
sou 

CROPS 





UiUii by 

is. r. HlIIVNICliTT 



ii»wwBwiWMMMwiHimiM»aawiw«ft«aaBOi^^ 



'HE CULTIVATOR PUBlISHiNG COiPAIiY 

ATLANTA, QEHMU 




Class SLi^5„__ 

Book ^^ . 



CopightN! 



3 02 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



The Cultivator Publishing Company 

BOX 798, ATLANTA, GEORGIA 

Publishers of 

THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 

and 

' 'Agriculture for Common Schools, 

"Dickson's System of Intensive Farming," 

"Ten Acres Enough. " 



SOUTHERN CROPS 

AS GROWN AND DESCRIBED 
by 

Successful Farmers 

AND PUBIylSHED FROM TIME TO TIME IN 

THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
Including FURMAN'S FAMOUS FORMULA 






Compiled by 

G. F. HUNNICUTT 

Editor THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 

1908 



<> 



h 






^<^ 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 

DEC 26 1808 

rs CopyrikjU entry 
CLASS O- XXc, No, 
COPY A. 



Copyright 1908 
by 

the; cui^tivator pubushing company 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA 



CONTENTS 

Cotton 1 

Com . 51 

Wheat 82 

Oats 91 

Hay & Forage Crops 101 

Peanuts 102 

Sweet Potatoes 167 

Melons 173 

Irish Potatoes 190 

Tomatoes 197 

Onions 205 

Cabbage 209 

Koot Crops . . . . . . 218 

Asparagus 224 

Celery 228 

Lettuce , 243 



PKEFACE 



Having received so many letters from farmers over va- 
rious sections of the South, asking how to grow certain 
crops successfully, we deem it advisable to publish in 
book form an account of the most successful methods of 
growing, not only staple crops of cotton, corn, wheat, oats, 
but also of our most popular truck crops and garden vege- 
tables. So we have decided to gather together from the 
Cultivator for the past twenty years, the articles giving 
account of the most successful methods and of the 
largest yields that have been made by practical farmers 
all over the South. This work contains the cream of our 
Southern agricultural experience. It is therefore w^orthy 
of being presented in book form. All Southern farmers 
of to-day should prize such a practical and high-class col- 
lection, and this book should be helpful to all young men 
who expect to make farming their occupation. "Fur- 
man's Intensive System of Farming," Dr. Drake's world's 
record yield of corn, the "Williamson plan" of growing 
corn, Warthen's record yield of cotton. Fowler's yield of 
cotton on 100 acres, W. P. Walker's wheat, Geo. O'Kelley's 
oats and Claude Tuck's peavine hay, should become famil- 
iar words in every Southern home, and a book giving all 
this information should be upon every farmer's reading 
table. Feeling the necessity to embody this valuable infor- 
mation in book form, we also thought it would be excellent 
addition to give in connection, Dr. J. B. Hunnicutt on 
Irish potatoes and other crops, 'Nje on onions, Riegel on 



celery, Trott and Hancock on cantaloupes, Maiighon on 
watermelons, Deckner on tomatoes, etc., making a complete 
collection of the best methods of growing all the above men- 
tioned crops, so any one can refer to them at a moment's 
notice, to refresh the memory of our older generation and 
to instruct and stimulate our beginners upon the farms. 
Such a book should stimulate a higher degree of profi- 
ciency in our farm operators, and serve to raise the stand- 
ard of our calling wherever it is practiced. 

The Cultivatok Publishing Company, 

By G. F. Hunnicutt, Editor. 




Twelve Bolls to One Limb. 



COTTON. 



COTTON CULTUKE. 

BY FAEISH C. FUKMAN. 

The intelligent observer, traveling through any portion 
of the Southern States, can not avoid iDeing impressed with 
the general appearance of slovenliness and carelessness 
that seems almost universally characteristic of Southern 
farmers, as manifested by their system, or rather want 
of system, of agriculture, and their entire disregard for 
the conveniences and necessities of advanced agriculture. 
It is difficult indeed, after leaving behind one of the farms 
of ]^ew England and the Middle States, where everything 
is neat and orderly, and where there is a place for every- 
thing, and everything in its place, to realize that one is 
in the midst of an agricultural people; a people who are 
the producers of a staple in universal demand, and whose 
aggregate yearly value is greater, perhaps, than that of 
any other single product known to mankind. 

The truth of the matter is, that the farmers of the South 
cling with a tenacity that would be praiseworthy in a bet- 
ter cause to the custom and tradition of their forefathers, 
and are almost prepared to resent any innovations on meth- 
ods and systems that are old and established. Hence it is 
that the rule of our ancestors, that, for success in agTi- 
culture, the plow must follow fast upon the axe, is still 
the rule with us to-day. The plan is still, cut down, 
I 



2 SOUTHEBJN Ck.OPS. 

wear out, and seek again new forests, fresh land, leaving 
that already exhausted to the efforts of nature, striving to 
restore to it some portion of its wasted fertility. Such a 
plan, so wasteful in its methods and destructive in its re- 
sults, must in time have its limits, and with us of the 
South those limits have been reached. Under this system, 
nearly all the original growth in my section of the South, 
middle Georgia, has been cut down, and the soil, originally 
fertile, has been so depleted by a system of agriciilture in 
which there is a continual drain without any adequate 
return, that the decrease in productiveness of our lands 
within the last ten years has become alarming to the 
thoughtful observer, the man who looks not only to the 
present, but the future. 

For myself, the evil impressed itself j)ainfully upon 
my mind. I knew that we were blessed wdth advantages of 
climate that left nothing to be desired in that direction, 
and I was satisfied that all our soil needed was careful, in- 
telligent feeding to make it teem with the choicest produc- 
tions of the field and orchard. I tried to impress my 
views upon my neighbors and my tenants, but they laughed 
at me, and finally I. made up my mind to make a series 
of experiments, running through a succession of years, 
with a view to obtaining practical results in the matter. 
T had been very much impressed with the idea of the 
French agriculturist, George Y^lle, as illustrated by him 
in his experiments at Vincennes, to ^vit, that land is only 
the vehicle for making any crop. In pursuance of this 
idea, in order to give its correctness a thorough test, he 
took sand and burnt it, so as to destroy all foreign mat- 
ter; then took water and distilled it, so that it should be 



Cotton. 3 

chemically pure ; took next the wheat plant and subjected 
it to careful analysis — root, stem, leaf, and grain — there- 
by ascertaining its constituent elements; then he took 
his sand, scattered it on a plank floor, and planted wheat 
in it; took his distilled water, and dissolved in it every- 
thing which his analysis showed him that his wheat re- 
quired; w^atered the wheat with it carefully and regularly, 
and harvested from it at the rate of exceeding forty bushels 
of wheat per acre. 

This seemed to my mind a complete demonstration of the 
truth of his theory as to grain. Cotton being the crop 
of our section, I determined to make an experiment upon 
the same line on cotton. For this purpose I selected sixty 
acres of land immediately adjacent to my dwelling, for 
two reasons — one on account of its convenience, the other 
because of its almost remarkable j)Overty. I reside four 
and one-half miles north of Milledgeville, at a point se- 
lected by my grandfather, Parish Carter, on account of 
its remarkable salubrity, at a time (about 1820) when al- 
most all this portion of middle Georgia was visited every 
fall by a variety of bilious fever almost as fatal as the 
yellow fever of to-day. The fever w^as caused by the 
free use of the axe — destroying the forests and exposing 
the vegetable matter to the hot rays of the summer^s sun. 
From this fever Scottsboro w^as exempt, being located on 
a high, piney-w^oods ridge, elevated two hundred feet above 
Milledgeville, and the soil in the immediate vicinity being 
too poor to breed malaria, and here my grandfather 
located. 

This ridge constituted, in days gone by, the dividing line 
between the sea and high land — marine shells being abun- 



4 SouTHEKN Crops. 

dant in the vicinity, and the geological formation mark- 
ing the junction of the tertiary, vvitli its sandy soil and 
pine-land growth, with the metamorphic rocks of the 
up-country, giving red clay land a prevailing growth of 
oak and hickory. 

Just on the backbone of this ridge my farm is located, 
the land, as is usual on ridges, being level, with a ten- 
dency to break into hills on each side, giving enough roll- 
ing land to make a fair test as to washing. The char- 
acter of the sixty acres is mixed, about five acres being 
stiff red clay, forty acres sandy, with clay from live to 
ten inches below the surface, and fifteen genuine sand, with 
clay several feet below the surface. The growth (original) 
was long-leaf pine and oak, mostly scrub oak, with a 
sprinkling of hickory. The soil naturally was very thin, 
and fifty acres of the sixty had been cleared and exhausted, 
worn out more than half a century ago. 

The first year i determined, as I had started to make 
a demonstration, to cultivate the land without manure, 
and thereby secure a basis for my demonstration. I broke 
it thoroughly with good ordinary one-horse turn plows, 
using the iron foot-stock; bedded, rebedded; planted from 
the 25th of April to the 10th of May, using the ordinary 
seed of the country; planting in the bed in rows three and 
a half foot wide; cultivated with the sweep, as shallow 
as possible,, keeping tlio crop cl^r of weeds, and giving it 
every chance; and with a fair av^rag^ season my crop for 
the year was, on tho sixty acres, eight bales of cotton. This 
pivxl notion, giving a bale to every seven and a half acres 
of tho land, conclusively demonstrated the poverty of the 
soil, and T was, tlioroforo, in a condition to start and 



Cotton. 5 

see what could be done in the way of, at one and the same 
time, building up the land and securing such yearly returns 
as would in themselves be remunerative. On my first crop, 
as just detailed, of course I lost money. 

Having ascertained what my land would produce with- 
out assistance, and that it was fearfully deficient in some 
or perhaps all of the elements essential to the proper 
growth and development of the cotton plant, I was met at 
the threshold of my experiment with a difficulty the solu- 
tion of which promised to be a key to all future trouble. 
It was this : First, how to ascertain in what the land was 
lacking, and second, to find accurately and definitely what 
elements and in what proportion these elements must be 
given to the land to supply the deficiencies already ex- 
isting, and build up the land crop by crop instead of leav- 
ing it each year more and more exhausted, and conse- 
quently less productive. It struck my mind at first that 
the first portion of this proposition was a most important 
one — that is, to ascertain what the land was deficient in 
and lacking — and while in the theory this is no doubt true, 
I soon found upon investigation and reflection, that in 
practice, with the best assistance that modern science can 
afford me, it was entirely out of my power. 

I have had this argument so frequently used to me 
by men of intelligence, and good farmers: "Oh, if I was 
only a <jhemist I would analyze my land, find out in what 
it was lacking, replace it, and then I would be all right; 
but I canH do it myself, and I do not know where to get 
it done, and so I see no way out of my trouble. '^ The 
truth of the matter is that soil analysis is practically 
worthless to the farmer, and upon this point I beg leave 



6 Southern Crops. 

to produce the opinion of that most eminent authority^ 
George Ville; he says: 

''A priori, one would think that a chemical analysis 
which has been pushed so far in our day and whose meth- 
ods have acquired at the same time so much delicacy and 
certainty, ought at least to give us a means of estimating 
with certainty the richness of the soil, and so guiding us 
in the choice of manure best suited to its nature. There 
is none, however, and I defy the most skilful chemist to 
say in advance what will be the return from earth sub- 
mitted to. him, and what manures are most appropriate. 
A few words will explain the reason why chemistry is 
powerless to furnish us with these indications. Let us 
suppose a soil containing both quartz and feldspar sand 
among its mechanical elements. For vegetation these two 
sands are equivalent, although the first is from silica, and 
nothing but silica, while the second is a silicate, based 
upon lime, potash, and soda, besides containing phosphate 
of lime in very feeble but very appreciable quantities. 
Here, then, are two bodies whose composition, in spite of 
similitude of exterior, have no analogy, and which, how- 
ever, are equivalent in an agricultural point of ^^ew, be- 
cause the feldspar being insoluble in water, its role in 
regard to vegetation descends to that of the quartz sand — 
that is to say, to a simple mechanical element. But for 
the chemist there are no insoluble bodies, so he confounds 
in one whole the potash, lime, and phosphate of lime that 
the feldspar sand contains, though they are of no use 
in vegetation, with the products of the same nature which 
we have ranged under the class of active assimilable ele- 



Cotton. 7 

ments. Thus is explained the insufficiency of the signs 
with which chemistry can furnish us.'' 

E"ot being able, therefore, to ascertain, as I would have 
preferred to do, the deliciencies of the land, I set to work 
to see if I could get at the second part of my proposition 
— that is, to find which elements, and in what proportion, 
to apply to the soil to at one and the same time build up 
the land and give good dividends in crop returns. In ar- 
riving at an answer to this which proved satisfactory to my 
mind, the following train of reasoning suggested itself: 
Land is only the vehicle for making the crop ; we can't 
grow the crop without land to grow it on; and yet, unless 
the land selected on which to grow the crop is supplied with 
the diiferent varieties of plant food, organic and inor- 
ganic, to meet the requirements of that crop, just in 
proportion to the deficiency will be the falling oif in 
production, until absolute sterility in the soil will cause 
absolute failure in the crop. If, therefore, I can, by 
the aid of science, ascertain exactly w^hat elements, or- 
ganic and inorganic, and in what proportion of each, enter 
into the composition of any crop — stalk, leaf, root, and 
fruit — then I can see my way to preparing a compost 
that will furnish an adequate supply in my land of a 
perfect food for the growth and development of my crop. 
Having settled upon this line, and cotton being the crop 
upon which my experiment was to be made, the next step 
was to ascertain the composition of the cotton plant — ^lint, 
seed, bolls, leaves, stem and roots. Of this plant a very 
able and exhaustive qualitative and quantitative analysis 
was made in 1878 by Prof. H. 0. AVhite, at that time 
Professor of Chemistrv in the Fuiversitv of Goorgin ; 



8 Son I II I'lK'iN ( 'uors. 

jiikI as I lia\(^ iTccixctI a '^fcal many iii((iiiii('s ii|kiii llic 
siil»|('ci (il I lie analysis of ( he (MtlloM plaiil., I will reproduce 
it: 

'•'>^ <^'"'-'- ^";;;xr"' 

Liiil, (M.iisisis of (in 100 |)ui-ls) US/Jf) J. 75 

S(H'(I troiisislH (»r (in 100 parts) JXkT)!) 3.41 

liolls coiiHist of (in 100 partH) 85/21 12.9(1 

Leaves (MHisisl (.!' (in 100 parls) S2.7 I 15.22 

St(UUH consist el" (in 100 parts) !)5.02 ;i.l)S 

Hoots consist of (^in 100 parts) !)2.7t; 5.08 

Tiit^ or«;anie niatlei" (U)nsists in all cascvs of oxygon, hydro- 
i^-en, earlxm and inlroi;-on. The dilTerent porlions of llio 
|)lant eonlaiii in 100 parts llie followiiii;- n^spoctivo 
ainonnls (d" nil rt>i;-en : 

Linl * 0.5 1 

So(h1 l.JU) 

Hells \.o:\ 

I.(MIV(^S 2. It 

Sleins 1.1(> 

Ivoots 1,17 

Tht* ash o( lh(> lint (MMitains in 100 parts: 

rhosphorie acid 10.25 

Potash 21.31 

Liuio 2().7 1 

M agnosia 9. 1(> 

OlhtM- ininiM-als 32.21 

There w i 11 hr contained in 100 |>art8 of tlio ash of — 

S.T.lM |{»)llw. 1.0»IV»>S. SttMUM. UlU>tS 

IMiosphoric aeid ...;>5.7(; (5.S7 7.75 13. (>8 7.50 
l*etash 30.25 1 1.2S 1 1.<)C. 21. 0(1 23.52 



Cotton. 



1^7.:] 1 


lis. 14 


^{\.:u\ 


2:i.:57 


0.14 


0.11 


9.75 


8.93 


i;i/j5 


\'ZA)1 


5.5^^ 


4.12 


5.12 


r).()() 


1.11 


6.98 


4.11 


4.or> 


0.42 


8.01 


8.84 


\).'Ar> 


0.7*J 


10.04 


14.08 


10.57 


7.01 


8.03 



Lima !).S7 

Magnesia 12.42 

Siilpliuric acid .... 0.48 

Oxi(i(3 of iron 1.87 

Cliloi-iiK! 0.85 

Soda 2.50 

Silica 



In review iriji' these rcsidls, we observer iliat IIkj most 
iiripcjrtant mineral constituents in each and every part of 
the cotton })lant are plios])]ioric acid, potash, lime, and 
magnesia, in round numbers we have, in 100 parts of 
the ash of each part of tin; phiiit, th(^ fol lowing- amounts 
of these main constitucnis. hi 100 of the asli of- - 

l-liit. Refids, RollH. T>eHVt'H. RUmuh. IlcjolH. 

Phosphoric acid 10 30 7 8 14 8 

Potash 21 30 14 15 24 24 

Lime 27 10 27 28 20 22 

Magnesia 10 12 10 8 

Estimnted from tlies(! })ercentages, and th(i pi'opoi'tion 
of the ash l)efore stated, as yielded })y the several parts 
of th(i plant, we have in 100 parts — 

Lint. Heeds. BoIIh. Leavew. SUmiih. KooIm. 

Phosphoric ;i(tid ..0.18 1.22 0.91 1.22 0.50 0.40 

Potash 0.37 1.02 1.82 3.28 0.90 1.22 

Lime 0.48 0.34 3.49 4.25 1.01 1.12 

Magnesia 0.17 0.41 0.77 0.92 0.40 0.41 

Mtrogen 0.54 1.30 1.03 2.14 1.10 1.17 

A crop that will produce 150 f)oiinds lint cotton |)er 
acre will produce also 300 pounds seed, 250 pounds bolls, 



10 SOUTHEKN CkOP{^. 

250 pounds leaves, 600 pounds stems, and 150 pounds 
roots, all air dried. There will be contained in — 

Lint. Seeds. Boll . Leaves, Stems. Roots. 

Phosphoric acid ..0.27 3.66 2.26 3.05 3.36 0.60 

Potash 0.54 3.06 4.52 8.20 5.76 1.83 

Lime 0.72 1.02 8.82 10.00 6.24 1.68 

Magnesia 0.24 1.23 1.93 2.30 2.40 0.61 

ISTitrogen 0.81 5.88 5.07 5.35 6.96 1.75 

To sum up, therefore, to produce the above stated crop 
of 150 pounds lint per acre there will be required in all — 

Phosphoric acid 13 lbs. 

Potash 24 lbs. 

Lime 30 lbs. 

Magnesia 9 lbs. 

JSTitrogen 26 l])s. 

The bolls, leaves, stems, and roots are usually returned 
at once to the soil. In the seed are — 

Phosphoric acid 4 lbs. 

Potash •. . 3 lbs. 

Lime 1 lb. 

Magnesia 1 lb. 

ISTitrogen 6 lbs. 

While there is entirely removed from the acre and sent 
into market with the lint — 

Phosphoric acid \. -/4 lb. 

Potash .>. .> % lb. 

Lime %. lb. 

Magnesia % lb. 

l^itrogen 1 lb. 



Cotton. 11 

From this analysis, we see that if the stem, leaf, boll, 
stalk, root and seed of the cotton plant are returned to 
the soil, the wear and tear should be very small as com- 
pared with wheat, as shown by Prof. White. Assum- 
ing ten bushels per acre as an average yield of wheat, a 
calculation on that basis, from analysis of Wolff and 
Knot, shows the following quantities of the principal ele- 
ments of plant food are removed in every ten bushels of 
wheat sold from the farm, compared with that removed 
in lint from an average acre of cotton : 

Wheat. Lint Cotton. 

E'itrogen, pounds 12.40 1.00 

Potash 3.30 .50 

Lime 36 .75 

Magnesia 1.40 .25 

Phosphoric acid 4.90 .25 



32.36 2.75 

Having obtained my analysis of the cotton plant, an 
examination of it showed mo that I had an extremely 
composite plant to deal with. Phosphoric acid evidently 
was what scientists call the dominant, but potash, magne- 
sia, soda, chlorine, sulphuric acid, iron and silica, were 
all required, and the presence of each of them in greater 
or less degree, in such a condition as to enable the 
plant to assimilate them, was absolutely essential to the 
production of a perfect, healthy growth and develop- 
ment. Another fact, too, struck me, and that was that 
with a return to the soil of the seeds, leaves, stems, roots, 
etc., of the plant, removing only the lint, the amount of 



12 Southern Crops. 

inorganic matter withdrawn from the soil was so insig- 
nificant that cotton production properly pursued ought 
legitimately to build up and improve rapidly any soil de- 
voted to it. While this is true in theory, yet we know that 
in practice our cotton lands deteriorate rapidly, a fact 
which, together with the causes operative thereto, I will 
discuss later. 

In making a list of the requirements, then, of my 
plant, I found them to come in the following order in 
comparative value as to inorganic elements: Phosphoric 
acid, potash, lime, magnesia, soda, silica, sulphuric acid, 
chlorine, iron. 

Having satisfied myself that each of these was necessary, 
and my analysis showing me in what proportions of each, 
the next question was, in what form the most available as 
plant-food, and the cheapest to myself, could I obtain 
these different substances so as to combine them in the 
requisite proportions to make at one and the same time 
a perfect and economical food for my plant? There was 
no difiiculty as to three of the elements. It has long 
been admitted and agreed by all the advanced agricultu- 
rists, that a super-phosphate of lime, consisting of sul- 
phuric acid, phosphoric acid and lime, commonly known 
to commerce as acid phosphate, was the best and cheapest 
form in which to apply the phosphoric acid, inasmuch as 
we thereby obtain a large proportion of soluble phosphoric 
acid, and at the same time secure 4he presence, of sulphuric 
acid and lime, thus giving in one substance three of the 
nine varieties of food required. 

TTaving secured three without any difficulty, I began to 
hunt for a combination of one or more of the others. I 



Cotton. 13 

found that the presence of potash had been admitted to be 
a necessity in a manure for cotton, and it had been 
introduced in most of the commercial fertilizers, but in 
nearly every instance it was used in the form of muriate 
of potash, and the presence of soda and magnesia seemed 
to be regarded as unnecessary. An examination of the 
analysis of my plant showed me that it contained about 
half as much magnesia as it did potash, and soda too, is 
largely needed in its economy. I could get the chlorine and 
soda necessary, as chloride of sodium or common salt, 
but that left me still without a combination of potash 
and magnesia. While hunting around for something that 
would fill the bill, I struck upon a little pamphlet pub- 
lished by the Messrs. Kerr, of Baltimore, upon the subject 
of German kainit, and no sooner had I glanced over its 
composition than I knew that my trouble was over, and that 
I had found the very thing I needed. Its composition is : 

Sulphate of potash 25 per cent. 

Sulphate of magnesia 15 per cent. 

Chloride of magnesia 12 per cent. 

Chloride of sodium 32 per cent. 

Moisture 14 per cent. 

Insoluble matter 2 per cent. 

It is a natural product, dug from the earth in Ger- 
many, and the supply is declared by those who ought to 
know to be practically inexhaustible. It possesses too 
the great advantage of being easily and cheaply mined 
and prepared for market, and can be laid down by ship- 
load at Charleston or Savannah for far less than $8 
per ton. 



14 SouTHEEN Crops. 

The demand that has unexpectedly opened up for it 
this season has exhausted the supply and caused it to ad- 
vance in price; but next season I hope the importers will 
prepare for a heavy demand, and guard against short stocks 
and excessive prices. By examining its composition, you 
perceive that it contains potash, magnesia, soda, sulphuric 
acid, and chlorine, or five of the varieties of plant-food of 
which I had been in search, and you perceive further that 
it has twice as much potash as magnesia, which is the 
case also with the cotton plant. 

It seems, indeed, to have been combined by nature as a 
cotton manure, and its effect upon the growing plant is 
certainly admirable. By a combination, then, of acid 
phosphate and kainit in the proper proportions with cotton- 
seed, all the mineral manure we need practically, except 
perhaps silica, is furnished to the soiL In case of extraor- 
dinary or unusual production, I am inclined to believe that 
soluble silica is also an essential, and am now experi- 
menting with a view to determine that question. ^Vhile 
it does not enter into the composition of the seed or lint, 
you will observe from the analysis that it figures quite 
prominently in the stalk and boll, and is necessary to give 
the stalk strength to enable it to stand heavy fruitage 
without breaking. 

Having obtained the inorganic elements, however, my 
task in making my compost was by no means concluded. 
As I have stated before, plant-fT)0(I is worthless unless 
a constant and steady supply of moisture be secured and re- 
tained to render these inorganic elements soluble, and 
thus in a condition in which the plant can assimilate them. 
IN'ow humus or decayed vegetable matter is the great con- 



Cotton. 15 

servator in nature of moisture. We all know this from 
our experience as boys in hunting earthworms for bait 
in our fishing frolics. Earthworms love moisture; it is 
essential to their existence, and to lind them the boys al- 
ways looked in fence-corners, or around manure piles, 
where there is an abundant supply of decayed vegetable 
matter. If you will take a lump of humus, wet it thor- 
oughly, and cover it up with dirt, it will retain the 
moisture for an indefinite period. Of all the forms in 
which we can employ humus in our compost heap, stable 
or lot manure is the best, and swamp-muck, thoroughly 
dried and treated with plaster to correct any tendency to 
acidity, is the next best. In the kainit there is, as you 
remember, 32 per cent. salt. Salt, as every one knows, has 
a great attraction for moisture, so much so that under 
favorable circumstances it is almost deliquescent. Where, 
then, the salt is mixed with the humus in bulk, we invari- 
ably have a plentiful supply of moisture as a result of the 
following process: The salt draws the moisture from the 
air, and the humus, by capillary attraction, in its turn ab- 
stracts the moisture from the salt, and holds it in the 
furrow underneath the plant, to be given to that plant 
at the time of its greatest need, when the hot sun and burn- 
ing air of a July drought threaten its destruction. 

Having ascertained by actual experiment what my land, 
unaided, would produce, and having determined what the 
proper constituents should be in the compost to be ap- 
plied to it, the next step was to fix the proper proportions 
to be observed in the use of each of those constituents in 
the preparation of the compost. The reader will remem- 
ber that the analysis of the cotton plant shows ^hat to 



16 Southern Crops. 

produce a crop of 150 pounds lint cotton to the acre, or a 
bale to three acres, there will be required of phosphoric 
acid, thirteen pounds; potash, twenty-four pounds; lime, 
thirty pounds; magnesia, nine pounds, and nitrogen, 
twenty-six pounds. Of these, far the greater portion is re- 
turned to the soil with the leaves, bolls, stems, and roots, 
so that the actual drain upon the soil is, phosphoric acid, 
four and one-quarter pounds; potash, three and one-half 
pounds; lime, one and three-fourths pounds; magnesia, 
one and one-fourth pounds, and nitrogen, seven pounds. 

With these figures as a basis, I determined, inasmuch 
as my land was peculiarly deficient in humus, that I 
would, in my formula for compost, make the organic con- 
stituents proportionately very heavy as compared with 
other formulae that I had seen, and for the purpose of con- 
venience in mixing, as the chemicals always come in 200- 
pound bags, I made the formula as follows : First, thirty 
bushels stable manure; second, one sack acid phosphate, 
half sack kainit; third, thirty bushels cottonseed; fourth, 
one sack acid phosphate, half sack kainit. 

To prepare the compost I select a piece of ground con- 
venient to my lots, so as to avoid unnecessary hauling of my 
heavy manure, taking care that it is^not in a low spot, 
where water might collect and seep the heap, and having 
cleaned it carefully, scatter my stable manure evenly over 
it, never allowing it to be m6re than throe inches thick 
when the manure is well scattered. ^ it is dry T sprinkle 
water over it, and this is something that must by no 
means be omitted. Water, and a pley.ty of it, is a necessity 
in a properly regulated compost heap, where decomposi- 
tion and chemical reactions are valuable and essential. 



COTTOJV. 17 

Each layer, both of manure and cottonseed, should be thor- 
oughly wetted as it is laid down, as otherwise one dry 
layer running through your heap may give you cottonseed 
that wilJ come up and give great trouble, especially if 
the crop is planted with selected seed. Having wet the 
manure, the next step is the manipulation of the acid 
phosphate and kainit, preparatory to scattering it evenly 
on the heap. Take a sack of the acid and half a sack of 
kainit and mix thoroughly with hoes, breaking all lumps 
with a heavy, wooden pestle. 

When thoroughly mixed, scatter evenly over the surface 
of the manure. AVe are next ready for our cottonseed, of 
which we take thirty bushels and spread them evenly on 
the heap, and wet thoroughly — remembering not to be 
sparing with the water. I have had so much trouble with 
cottonseed in my compost heap on account of the careless- 
ness of my laborers in neglecting to wet each layer thor- 
oughly, unless I am personally present to superintend the 
whole operation, that I have made up my mind to get for 
next season a small mill, manufactured and sold in At- 
lanta, Ga., for the purpose of crushing seed preparatory 
to putting them in heap. I am satisfied that such mill 
will prove a valuable investment on any farm, as it is 
a fine corn-cracker and can be utilized in many ways. After 
the cottonseed we come again to the chemicals, of which, 
as before, we take a sack of acid phosphate and half a 
sack of kainit, mix them as thoroughly as possible and 
scatter on the pile. This mixture of first, stable manure ; 
second, chemicals ; third, cottonseed, and fourth, chemi- 
cals, makes my compost as I prepare and use it, 
3 



18 SOUTHEEN CeOPS. 

Just here i think it proper that 1 ahuuld call the atten- 
tion of my brother fanners to one very important fact, 
and that is the great value, in the use of the chemicals, of 
a thorough fine division or comminution of the materials. 
This principle is thoroughly understood and appreciated 
by the medical world in the application of mineral medi- 
cine to the animal economy. For example, it is well known 
that calomel, reduced to an impalpable powder, requires 
but one tenth in weight to produce a given effect as the 
same medicine before ground, or when in the ordinary 
coarse, grainy condition. This same rule in the applica- 
tion of mineral manures to the vegetable world holds 
equally good, and for this reason I recommend the mix- 
ing of the chemicals before they come into the hands 
Qf the farmers with properly arranged machinery. I have 
had great trouble myself in mixing my chemicals, and 
have never succeeded in this portion of n\j work as I 
would have desired. Realizing this, I made arrangement 
this year to have the chemicals . mixed by machinery in 
Atlanta, and I have found it a very decided improvement 
on the old way. 

I have received many inquiries as to the necessity or ex- 
pediency of mixing the compost under shelter. A mo- 
ment's reflection will convince any one that, where so much 
water is used in the manufacture of a compost, the addi- 
tion of all that may fall upW the heap as rain, for the 
space of two or three months, can do no possible harm. T 
never think of putting any shelter over my, heaps. On 
the contrary, I have noticed that those that were built just 
along the eaves of my stable, so that the heap caught and 
retained all the rain from the roof, decomposed more 



Cotton. 19 

ilioroiigJily ciiid sutisfacturily tliaii any other. 'No one 
need be uneasy about making such a compost heap as I 
have described in the open air. As decomposition takes 
place, there are in the. heap itself, in the chemicals com- 
posing every alternate layer, materials that will fix and 
prevent the escape of any valuable gas that may be gen- 
erated. In the acid phosphate there is always a quantity of 
sulphate of lime, and in the kainit we have sulphate of 
magnesia, and either of these chemicals have the power 
of fixing ammonia, converting it into a salt and preventing 
its escape. 

THE COMPOST HEAP. 

The compost heap should not be built more than five feet 
high. Keep the edges as nearly perpendicular as possible, 
and finish it off on the top with a covering of rich top 
dirt from three to six inches thick. The heap should stand 
after completion at least six weeks before using it, and 
if it could be so arranged that at the end of six weeks it 
could be cut perpendicularly down, mixed thoroughly and 
allowed to stand a month longer, it would improve the 
compost. I make such quantities of it that I have not time 
to do this, but, ais a rule, the more compost is mixed and 
manipulated the better it is. I have received many in- 
quiries as to how it is possible to manufacture so much 
stable manure as my formula requires, on a small farm. 
This is an inquiry the force of which T appreciate, for 
in the solution of the question how to make an abundant 
supply of stable, barnyard, and homo-made manure, is to 
be found the key to the future prosperity of Southern ag- 
riculture. With our hot climate, burning sun, and parch- 



20 Southern Crops. 

ing winds continuing uninterrupted for six months or 
more, we have adopted, from necessity, a shallow sur- 
face system of culture, and the result has been that 
within the last twenty-five years the cultivated lands of 
the South have been largely drained of that supply of de- 
composed organic or vegetable matter known as humus, 
which, while it has no chemical value, or very little, is yet 
absolutely essential in order for remunerative returns 
from any soil. There are only two ways in which this 
wasted material can be restored — by the use of a properly 
regulated compost, or by natural process, allowing the 
land to lie out and become covered with weeds and grass, 
which is, at best, a very slow, uncertain and unsatisfac- 
tory proceeding; or better, to plant in small grain and 
follow the grain with a crop of peas, manuring the peas 
with a chemical manure and allowing them to die on 
the surface, to be turned under in January, but never 
tuvuerl under greon in our climate. Green manuring will do 
at the North, but farmers at the South had better let 
it alone. 

Restoring the humus to the soil through the growth of 
the oat, followed by the pea, is a plan that, as a natural 
one, is unsurpassed. 

In the case of the growth of a cotton crop, tlu^ ]u-esence 
of humns disseminated generally through the land is of 
course of great value, but cotton is a tap-root crop, and 
for the successful and remunersitive cultivation of all 
tap-root crops, we must manure in the drill, and rny 
experience has taught me that to manure cotton heavily 
in the drill with chemical manure alone is dangerous, but 
that if those chemicals are mixed thoroughlv with de- 



Cotton. 21 

composed humus in the presence of chloride of sodium that 
the danger, which is that of firing in time of drought, is 
reduced to a minimum. In fact, mj experience with my 
compost applied immediately in the drill under the cotton, 
at the rate, for the purpose of experiment, of five tons to 
the acre, has satisfied me that instead of tending to 
"burn the cotton up," it absolutely kept it green and flour- 
ishing when unmanured crops and those fertilized with 
chemicals alone were parched and yellow. 

E'ow, to secure an almost unlimited supply of the val- 
uable and essential material, all that any farmer, who 
has within his reach the pine straw of the South has to do, 
is to keep his stable, barnyard, cow-lot and hog-pens al- 
ways thoroughly littered with the straw, moving it out in 
heaps as soon as it becomes saturated with animal manure, 
and re-littering at once, say once a month. 

Be sure to keep all your cattle up at ni-ght. I am sat- 
isfied that a well-fed cow will make from her droppings 
at night alone $25 worth of manure in the course of a 
year. Don't be satisfied, though, with what you can get 
from your lots and stables; remember that humus is de- 
cayed organic matter, and that leaves and muck are a fine 
form of it. Gather all the decaying vegetable matter from 
the ditches and fence-corners on your place, and add 
them to your piles that are accumulating ready for your 
winter composting. Go into the ponds and branches in 
your vicinity and gather the mud or muck, haul it up, miji 
with it a little land plaster, let it dry and add it to your 
heap. In short, turn your attention to accumulating 
humus ; make up your mind that you will have it ; gather 
it together day after day, and week after week, and at the 



1^2 Southern Crops. 

end uf tlu' year you will Hud yourself wondering whert 
it all came from. 

While the compost lieap was in course of constructioh 
during the second year of my experiment— the lirst year, 
as the reader will recollect, being an experimental test, 
without manure, to determine the productiveness of the 
land — my plows were at work preparing the land for 
the reception of the compost. The plows used for the 
purpose were upon the pattern of tlie ordimiry s(wen-inch 
turn shovel, made, however, so as to be longer than the 
ordinary shovel to give the plow penetrating power. These 
were attached to the liarman stock, an iron foot-stock, man- 
ufactured in Atlanta, combining strength, adaptability, 
and lightness. 

With these the ground was thoroughly broken as follows : 
First, a ten-inch shovel furrow was run in at intervals of 
three and a half feet, and the turn-plow furrow thrown 
upon this shovel furrow from each side until the ground 
was thoroughly broken, with a water furrow in each mid- 
dle, throwing the gronnd up into broad beds three and a 
half feet wide. This was alh:)wed to stand nntil just before 
planting time, when the water furrow w^as opened with a 
ten-inch ordinary shovel, the compost placed in the hill 
and immediately listed upon — that is to say, covered with 
a furrow from each side thrown upon it with a turn 
shovel ; this was allowed to sta\d until ready to plant ; then 
two more furrows with the turn^o^vel were thrown upon 
this list, one from each side, and the cotton planted at 
once in the fresh dirt, and iunuediately over the center 
of the list made by the four furrows, with a Dow-Law 
cotton-planter, using two bushels of seed per acre. 



Cotton. 23 

The amount of compost applied tliia year was five 
hundred pounds to the acre, being e<piivaieut to about six 
bushels cottonseed, six bushels lot uiaimi'e, ninety pounds 
acid phosphate and forty-five ^xjunds kainit to the acre. 
The time of planting was from the 1st to the 12th of 
May. ll will De perceived that my planting was a late 
one, as it always is; and, as L regard this as an impor- 
tant point in cotton culture, I will give my reasons for it 
now. Cotton is a ])eeuliar j)lant. If it ever stops grow- 
ing from any cause — frpm drouth or otherwise — it will 
never take on any more fruit on the old stalk, but puts 
out new twigs, upon which its new fruit must grow. 

One of the peculiarities of our Southern climate is that 
almost every year we ha\'e a (h'oiith <^f greater or less 
duration in July, frequently accompanied with intense 
heat and parching winds. Cotton planted early, say from 
the r)th to the 20tli of April, has ]u-ogressed in growth 
and fruitage by July to a point where the bottom crop, or 
the bolls on the lower limbs, have begun to mature, and 
therefore have gotten so large that the plant can not cast 
them ofi^, but uiust retain and mature them. Just at this 
time the drouth c(mies on, the ground parches up, the plant 
begins to sufi^er and shed its fruit, for instinct teaches it 
that it is fatal to its prospects for a full yield to stop 
growing, and it will cast ofi^ all its fruit to avoid this 
danger. First it sheds the upper or youngest fruit, then 
the middle crop goes ; but, with a continuance of the 
drouth, when it undertakes next to rid itself of the bot- 
tom crop, it finds it too far advanced, and in despair the 
plant stops growing and throws all its remainino; vitality 
into a supreme effort to mature the bottom bolls. Then 



24: Southern Crops. 

the droiilQ is broken, the August rains begin, the plant 
begins to grow once more ; to put out new shoots which in 
time become loaded with fruit, only to encourage the 
farmer's hopes of a good crop to be certainly blighted by 
a frost that never allows it to reach its full maturity, 
and the farmer exclaims, '^Oh, if I had only been able to 
plant a w^eek earlier 1 should have made a splendid crop,''* 
when the truth is that if he had planted two weeks later 
he would have largely avoided the injurious effects of 
the drouth. Cotton planted in May is never sufficiently 
advanced to be injured permanently by a July drouth. Its 
growth is retarded, but not stopped. It throws off all its 
superfluous fruit, but continues to grow slowly, and when 
the August rains come it quickly becomes covered with 
fruit and rewards the labor of the husbandman with 
three full crops — bottom, middle, and top. 

In this State (Georgia) there is no report of an extraor- 
dinary production of cotton or any crop planted earlier 
than May. Mr. Warthen, of Washington County, a county 
adjoining the one from Avhich I write, who has made the 
largest production from one acre of cotton ever reported, 
to wit, five bales, planted his acre on May 13th, and I 
am satisfied that early planting will never give a full 
crop of cotton. 

I have received a great many inquiries as to the best 
plan for putting out compost. I have found that for ap- 
plication in the drill, the quickest and most satisfactory 
was to get negro boys, furnish them with half -bush el 
baskets made from white-oak splints, make them take the 
manure directly from the wagon, keeping it just ahead 
of them all the time, and scattering it evenly in the drill. 



Cotton. 25 

They require instruction at first, but learn very readily, 
and six boys, costing for labor thirty cents each day, will 
distribute the manure in drills as rapidly as two wagons, 
hauling a quarter or half a mile from the heap to the field, 
will bring the material. For broadcasting I find nothing 
equal to the Kemp Manure-Spreader. It also has a drill- 
ing attachment, but it drills only two rows at a time, 
and can not be used where the rows are more than four 
feet wide, and for drill application I prefer the boys, as 
above stated. 

As soon as convenient after the cotton was planted, 
the bed was completed by breaking out the middle with a 
straight shovel, leaving the cotton on a broad, flat bed, 
with a water furrow in the middle. When the cotton 
came up and the third leaf began to show, a small sweep 
sixteen inches wide was run close up to it on each side, 
and it was chopped out two stalks to the hill, a hoe's 
width or eight inches apart. After standing this way for 
several days, a larger sweep (twenty inches) was run 
round with one wing slightly turned so as to throw a little 
dirt to the cotton, and the hoes came round again, cutting 
out every other hill, and putting the crop to a stand, or 
one stalk to the hill, sixteen inches apart. 

From this time nothing was used except the sweep, 
running over the crop as often as any tendency to form 
a crust on top showed itself, and plowing as shallow as 
possible. Just before laying by, the hoes were sent over 
once more to destroy any bunches of grass that might 
thicken a crop of seed to give trouble to next season's 
farming. The yield from the crop, manured and culti- 



26 Southern Ceops. 

vated as stated, was twelve bales of cotton, averaging four 
hundred and seventy pounds. 

The FormuLxV For The CoMrosT. 

Take thirty bushels well-rotted .stable manure or well- 
rotted organic matter, as leaves, muck, etc., and scatter it 
about three inches thick upon a piece of ground so situated 
that water will not stand on it but shed off in every direc- 
tion. The thirty bushels will weigh about nine hundred 
pounds ; take two hundred pounds of good acid phosphate, 
which cost me $22.50 per ton, delivered, making the two 
hundred pounds cost -$2.25, and one hundred pounds 
kainit, which cost me by the ton $14, delivered, or seventy 
cents for one hundred jiounds, and mix the acid phos- 
phate and kainit thoroughly, then scatter evenly on the 
manure. Take next thirty bushels green cottonseed and 
distribute evenly over the pile, and wet them thoroughly ; 
they will weigh nine hundred pounds; take again two hun- 
dred pounds acid phosphate and one hundred pounds kai- 
nit, mix and spread over the seed, begin on the manure and 
keep on in this way, building up your heap layer by layer 
until you get it as high as convenient, then cover with 
six inches of rich earth from fence-corner, and leave at 
least six weeks ; when ready in haul to the field cut with a 
spade or pickaxe square down and mix as thoroughly as 
]>ossible. Xow, we have thirty bushels of manure, weigh- 
ing nine hundred pounds, and^^hree hundred pounds 
chemicals in the first layer, and thirtv bushels cottonseed, 
weighing nine hundred pounds, and three hundred pounds 
of chemicals in the second layer, and these two layers 
combined for the perfect compost. You perceive that 



Cotton. 27 

the weight is two thousand four hundred pounds; value 
at cost is : 

30 bushels cottonseed, 12 i/>c $3.75 

400 pounds acid 2)hosphate 4.50 

200 pounds kainit •. 1.40 

Stable manure nouiinai 

Total $9.65 

Or, for two thousand foui" hundi'cd pounds, a total value 
of $9.65. This mixture makes practically a perfect ma- 
nure for cotton and a s])h'ndid application for corn. 



CROP OF 1882. 

The experiment made this jv-dv by Mr. Furman as set 
forth in the following pages, was one that required nerve 
and skill. The cotton did not come up for over two weeks 
after planting, and had very little rain from the beginning. 
It stood the July <lrouth splendidly, and when 1 saw it 
in August it was the finest six acres of cotton I ever srw. 
It was the universal opinion of good judges that the yield 
would be at least eighteen bales. The drought continued 
through August. The caterpillars also visited it. Only the 
bottom crop matured, and yet the yield was one bale to 
an acre. The yield on the 65 acres was about one bale to 
the acre, the cotton in the drill producing about the same, 
though it had only 4,000 pounds compost to the acre. 
The cotton in the drill was planted earlier than the cot- 
ton in the check. Mr. Furman was absent from home 
much of the time and he thought the cotton in the drill 



'28 Southern Crops. 

was very much injured by the cultivation. There can be 
no question that with ordinary seasons he would have 
made one hundred bales of cotton on the 65 acres. I am 
fortihed in this view by the opinions of many good farmers 
who saw the crop at various stages of its growth, Mr. 
John Cobb, of Americus, Ga., a model farmer and a man 
of sound judgment, said in my presence during the ses- 
sion of the State Agricultural Society, that he thought 
the crop was good for 100 bales or more. Mr. Cobb had 
just seen the crop. 

Captain T. F. ^Newell of Milledgeville, a large and suc- 
cessful planter, said he never saw six acres of such cotton ; 
that it was the perfection of the cotton plant. Duncan's 
Mammoth Prolific seed were used on the six acres. He 
commenced planting on the 23rd of April and finished 
planting about the middle of May. 



COTTGlSr IN THE CHECK. 

BY FARISH FURMAN. 

Cotton is a sun-plant and needs room for its roots; 
when cramped to 12 or 15 inches it can not attain its per- 
fect growth. 

My aim is to put the plants in four-foot squares and 
average 75 to 100 bolls to the plant. This will give me 
a pound of seed cotton to the plant, or 3 bales to the acre. 
How This is Bone. 

The land (6), six acres, was first broken with a two- 
horse Syracuse plow — the land so broken as to turn it 

Foot NOTK.-This system will not do on poor land, and Mr. Furman did not advise 
It except on sood laud or on land brought up aa his was, after four years fertilizing and 
cultivation.— En. 



Cotton. "2\) 

on edge, not turn it over from the bottom — then broad- 
cast with six thousand (6,000) pounds of compost, and 
this turned in with a turn shovel, then harrowed with a 
big Thomas smoothing harrow, then laid off 4x4 with an 
S-inch straight shovel and drilled one way with ''Buffalo 
Bone Guano/' or ''Furman's Formula, ammoniated," 
1,500 pounds to the acre. Listed on that, that is covered 
by running furrow on eacli side with a scooter plow ; then 
checked off by running a straight shovel across the fur- 
rows, four feet between the furrows, just marking the 
place to plant the seed at the intersection of the furrows 
four feet apart each way. List then opened by driving 
or "socking in" a two-inch bull tongue as deep as it could 
go, so as to thoroughly mix the soil and the fertilizer, and 
at the same time forming a fine bed for the rootlets. The 
seed ten to fifteen (10 to 15) to the chock, then dropped 
where the furrows meet, and lightly covered by raking 
a little earth on with the hoe and pressed on with the foot 
or flat side of the hoe. Soon after planting run a 12-inch 
straight shovel through the middle both ivays. As soon as 
the cotton gets up enough to show the best stalks, thin to 
one or two stalks to the check hy hand. When the cotton 
gets up pretty well, and the grass begins to come, use a 20 
to 22-inch Dickson sweep. About the usual time for 
plowing, run au R-inch straight shovel nt right angles 
across the furrows made by the sweep, then apply 250 
pounds "Buffalo Bone Guano," or "Furmnn's Formula, 
ammoniated," dropped on both sides of the phmls \\\ this 
furrow, iheu follow this at once with two furrows between 
the rows w^here the fertilizer is applied with 20 or 22- 
ineh Dickson sweep, splitting the middles between the 



32 SOUTHEKJM OkOPS. 

ton until the 5tli of May. I put in 300 pounds of high- 
grade fertilizer at planting time. On July 5th I bought 
15 tons of best fertilizer 1 could get and 5 tons of nitrate 
of soda. Mixed the nitrate of soda thoroughly with the 
fertilizer and put hands strewing it along the middle of 
the cotton rows scattering it as much as they could. These 
men were followed by plows with large scrapes stirring 
and mixing it in the soil. I did not complete this 100 
acres until July 25th. As you see this gave it an appli- 
cation of 400 pounds per acre. Then, this cotton was not 
laid by until the 6th day of September, and you see how^ 
green and well fruited it is. Come down here and I will 
show you a couple of acres left without this second appli- 
cation and you can see for yourself the result. It will 
only make half the amount of the other. As best I can 
figure it, this second application of fertilizer cost me 
$5.00 per acre and will yield me a net profit of twenty dol- 
lars per acre. This land we are now on was cleared in 
1790. It was worn out when I bought it 7 years ago. 
Of course I have put stable manure on it to help bring 
it up to its present state of fertility. It cost me $35 per 
acre and I'll clear enough on this crop on the 100' acres 
to pay all cost of cultivation and the original cost of tlie 
land." 

After looking at this magnificent cotton with stalks six 
feet high, loaded down with bolk, many of them con- 
taining over 300 bolls per stalk, Mr. Fowler showed us 
cotton planted after grain — planted on the 10th day of 
June — that will easily make a bale per aero. The thing 
that struck us most forcibly was how this giving his cotton 
ample food made it grow bolls in clusters. This was 



Cotton. * 33 

planted in the large-boiled variety, but the very limbs, put 
out what we call 'Svater sprouts" that would bear from 
ten to twelve bolls on that many inches of gi-owth as you 
will see by a '^cut" given of one of them in this issue. 
Wlicn you give all the food a plant can use, it is simply 
wonderful the amount of fruit it will put on, and it will 
hold it too, if the food supply does not .give out, and the 
cultivation is not stopped. We can not impress these two 
points as illustrated by Mr. Fowler's experience too 
strongly. Any one can grow cotton as well as Mr. Fowler 
who will follow his plan to the letter. It requires grit 
and nerve to put out the manure and the work necessary 
but the return follows as certainly as ^'night the day." 

Many will say, but Mr. Fowler has plenty of money, 
well, so he has, he made it, and he knows how to make 
more. If you can not carry out his method on 100 acres 
it will pay just as well — proportionately — carried out on 
one acre and carrying it out on one acre Avill enable you 
to increase your area from year to year. This is whnt 
we want — progress, by using the best methods and exten(b 
ing our operations as our means are increased. 

There are some who dou])t tlie profit in a second appli- 
cation of fertilizer, there are many who (loul)t tlio advisa- 
bility of cultivating cotton until it begins to o])en, luit Mr. 
Fowler's experience should settle these (]nestions forevei- ; 
if not it should induce you to give both a fair trial. 

You all know this suininer was a severe one ou cot Ion, 
yet his never stopped growing or putting on its fruit. 
If you will plow shallow you will never injure your eoltou, 
but lielp it. In a real dry season use a dust-board oi' 
piece of scantling instead of scrape^, but (M.ntinne to ])l(»w 
3 



to 



t32 SOUTHEKN Cfiors. 

ton until the 5tli of May. I put in 300 pounds of high- 
grade fertilizer at planting time. On July 5th I bought 
15 tons of best fertilizer 1 could get and 5 tons of nitrate 
of soda. Mixed the nitrate of soda thoroughly with the 
fertilizer and put hands strewing it along the middle of 
the cotton rows scattering it as much as they could. These 
men were followed by plows with large scrapes stirring 
and mixing it in the soil. I did not complete this 100 
acres until July 25th. As you see this gave it an appli- 
cation of 400 pounds per acre. Then, this cotton was not 
laid by until the 6th day of September, and you see how 
green and well fruited it is. Come down here and I will 
show you a couple of acres left without this second appli- 
cation and you can see for yourself the result. It will 
only make half the amount of the other. As best I can 
figure it, this second application of fertilizer cost me 
$5.00 per acre and will yield me a net profit of twenty dol- 
lars per acre. This land we are now on was cleared in 
1790. It was worn out when I bought it 7 years ago. 
Of course I have put stable manure on it to help bring 
it up to its present state of fertility. It cost me $35 per 
acre and I'll clear enough on this crop on the 100' acres 
to pay all cost of cultivation and the original cost of the 
land." 

After looking at this magnificent cotton with stalks six 
feet high, loaded down withxbolls, many of them con- 
taining over 300 bolls per stalk, Mr. Fowler showed us 
cotton planted after grain — planted on the IjOth day of 
June — that will easily make a bale per acre. The thing 
tliat struck us most forcibly was how this giving his cotton 
ample food made it grow bolls in clusters. This was 



Cotton. • 33 

planted in the large-boiled variety, but the very limbs ^put 
out what we call 'Svater sprouts" that would bear from 
ten to twelve bolls on that many inches of growth as you 
will see by a ^^cut" given of one of them in this issue. 
When you give all the food a plant can use, it is simply 
wonderful the amount of fruit it will put on, and it will 
hold it too, if the food supply does not .give out, and the 
cultivation is not stopped. We can not impress these two 
points as illustrated by Mr. Fowler's experience too 
strongly. Any one can grow cotton as well as Mr. Fowler 
who will follow his plan to the letter. It requires grit 
and nerve to put out the manure and the work necessary 
but the return follows as certainly as ^'niglit the day." 

Many will say, but .Mr. Fowler has plenty of money, 
well, so he has, he made it, and he knows how to make 
more. If you can not carry out his method on 100 acres 
it will pay just as well — proportionately — carried out on 
one acre and carrvinsr it out on one acre will enable you 
to increase your area from year to year. This is what 
we want — progress, by using the best methods and extend- 
ing our operations as our means are increased. 

There are some who doubt the profit in a second aj^pli- 
cation of fertilizer, there are many who doubt the advisa- 
bility of cultivating cotton until it begins to o])en, but Mr. 
Fowler's experience should settle these <|nestion.s forevei' ; 
IF not it shonkl induce you to give both a fair trial. 

You all know this summer was a sevei'e one on cotton, 
yet his never stopped growing or ])ntting on its fi'nit. 
If yon will pb)w shallow you Avill never injure yonr col Ion, 
but help it. In a real dry season use a dust-board oi* 
piece of scantling instead of scrape, but continue to ])low 




PC 



o 

I 

P5 






C 

c 
O 



36 Southern Ckops. 

a,« long as tlu^ growing season. Mr. Fowler showed us 
limbs around which he tied strings at last bloom, on Sep- 
tember 15th and some had as many as three additional 
grown bolls on them th(^ day we were there. 



THE LARGEST AUTHENTIC YIELD OF COTTOiS[. 

BY T. C. WARTHEN. 

According to promise, I hereby append a brief and cor- 
rect account of the preparing, manuring and cultivation 
of my acre of cotton grown this season : 

The soil is sandy with clay sub-soil. Has been in cul- 
tivation 60 or 80 years I suppose. About half of the 
acre was an ol<1 dunghill, the other half very poor before 
manuring. The gnano I used was KettlewelPs A. A., or 
PliospiiJito Peruvian, 1,400 pounds; raw pine straw from 
tlie woods, GO ox-cart loads; green cottonseed, 60 bushels; 
stable manure, well rotted, 400 bushels. 

Th(! pine straw, cottonseed and stable manure I hauled 
ont in January and strewed broadcast over the land, 
then turned under with a two-horse plow, breaking eight 
inches deep. Then witli a ^^16" scooter run in the two- 
liorse furrow^, breaking from five to seven inches; in the 
whole thirteen to fifteen inches deep. T then followed in 
the scooter-furrow with the guano, or subsoil furrow, so 
on, till completed. ]n Febrnarj, I repeated the breaking 
in the same manner, leaving off manuring. In March, 
lli(^ same again, breaking each time cross-wisQ, oi- in oj> 
posite directions. In April, 1 harrowed the land twice, 
to level the soil and destroy the young vegetation. Then 
I checked off my rows three feet each way, witli a small 



Cotton. 37 

bull-tongue plow, and on the 13tli day of May, I planted 
my cottonseed in the hill, six or eight seed, dropped by 
hand and covered with the foot. The seed when covered 
being on a level. The seed were the ^'Cluster Cotton" va- 
riety, I purchased them from David Dickson, Esq., Oxford 
Station, Ga., to whom I must confess 1 am indebted for 
my success to a certain extent. The seed, I am confident, 
were half the battle. 

The cotton was thinned to one stalk to the hill in Tunc, 
with the exception of outside rows, in which T left tAvo 
stalks. Then I plowed with 22-inch sweep, ^^Dickson's" 
very shallow, one furrow to the row, just scraping the 
earth enough to destroy the young weeds and grass; did 
not use a hoe on it, in order to avoid skinning the cot- 
ton ; in fact, had no use for any, as the cotton grew so 
fast the shade thereof prevented all vegetation from grow- 
ing underneath. 

The land embraced one and one-fourth acres, and the 
yield of seed cotton was 6,891 pounds; of lint, 2,332 
pounds.* 



now TO MAKE I^HREE BALES OF COTTON 
UPOlSr A¥ ACRE. 

Editor South krn Cttltjvator: 

In an editorial on the first page ^)f your July number 
on "Southern Georgia," you state a Mr. Somebody raised 
24 bales of cotton on eight acres. What T ask for is the 



* Note— This yield was made by Mr T. C. Wartben in competing for a prize offered by 
the Georgia State Agricultural Society in 1873, 



38 SoUTilEKJN Ckoi'.s. 

details. (1) What kin<l of land did he use? (2) How 
did ho prepare it, and did ho falhhreak it? (3) When 
did he ph^nt and what kind of seed did he use? (4) How 
much fertilizer was used? Please give the formula. (5) 
Give us the mode of cultivation, and how often, and state 
about the seasons. 

If you will give the information asked for and such 
'other facts as mav be had it will make mighty good read- 
ing in the Cultivator for your patrons. I could hardly 
be called a novice in matters of this kind, for the reason 
that for several years I have been a reader of the Culti- 
vator, and am reading several good farm papers with most 
all the bulletins of the State and United States. 

This is not doubted, but a more lengthy report will be 
very helpful to your many readers in my opinion. We 
use some fertilizer here. I sell it myself, but we are be- 
ginners. We have some trouble in putting out fertilizer 
on deep, sandy land. Tt seems to sink with the heavy 
rains. What is your practice in Georgia, and what is 
your advice in the matter? We are rained out over here 
in Arkansas. It rains incessantly, and is raining now. 
We haven't had more than two or three days to the week 
to plow this whole season. We were kept out two weeks 
at one time, commencing June 21st and running up into 
July. We have mud and grass to spare. 

Yours respectfully, B. F. S. 

Prescott, Ark. 



In response to the above letter, we will describe the 
conditions under which this large yield was made in two 
different places, and endeavor to make the steps plain 



OOT'J'ON. • 39 

enoiigli so any one who dei>ires can do likewise. We look 
the trouble to go and see both parties and in the latter 
instance to put our foot upon the soil that so far as we 
know holds the record in cotton production. The facts 
in the case referred to in South Georgia are these. The 
cotton was raised on the land of Mr. D. P. Cugie of Ogle- 
tliorpe, Ga. ; it was cultivated by Mr. R. ^\ Allen, and we 
liave the facts from him. The piece contained nine acres 
instead of eight acres as we were informed. Mr. Cugle 
has a good many cattle, and penned them on this land at 
night, and their droppings constituted the principal ma- 
nure used, only 150 pounds of guano being put in the drill 
when the cotton wds planted. The land was broken deeply 
and the cotton planted in four-foot rows, and was chopped 
and cultivated with scooter and scrape in the ordinary 
way. It was plowed rapidly and soon grew up to where 
it did not need any more work. The niue acres yielded 
twenty-one bales, averaging 512 pounds each. 

Withiu the city limits of Griffin, Ga., in Spalding 
County, Mr. H. A. Burr has six acres that yielded eighteen 
bales in 1904. It Avas cultivated on halves by Mr. H. C. 
T\odgers. We went out to view this land, which is in 
rotton this year, but owing to the hot wave which simply 
cooked the forms upon it, the squares and yonng bolls 
still hanging upon the stalks by hundreds, the yield will not 
be more than a bale and a half to the acre. The stalks 
were fine, six feet high, but the top three feet had no fruit 
upon it. This land is fresh, the top soil is sandy, pebble 
soil, wdth stiff, red clay subsoil, the ideal land for cotton. 
This land was broadcasted with stable manure in the fall 
and broken deep, with a two-horse plow. In the spring 



dO SoUTilERJN (hfOPS. 

the rows were laid off four feet apart, and six hundred 
pounds of "Day Break," a highly ammoniated guano, was 
nsed in the drill. The cotton was planted abont the mid- 
dle of April, of the "Big Boll" variety. When the cotton 
came up it was sided and chopped in the ordinary way. Tt 
was plowed every ten days with scooter and scrape. The 
cotton A\'as lefl one stalk to abont every eighteen or twenty 
inches. 

We are convinced that to get tlie ninxiniuui yield you 
must have it thick; the land must be wholly occupied 
with cotton. We have seen several parties this year try- 
ing seven or eight-foot rows. This is too wide. We are 
confident four feet is best, both for corn and cotton. ^Now 
three things stand out very clear to our minds in these 
two instances; and they stand at the very foundation of 
all successful farming. First, the lands ivere hrohen deep; 
second, they ivere well manured and largely ivith cow and 
li07'se mariure. AVe can never do the best farming without 
more cattle to make more manure. Thirdly, they culti- 
vated rapidly. Only rapid, shallow cultivation can give 
us the maximum yield. This is the way to make money 
raising cotton; and whenever you bring one or more acres* 
up to this yield you have done a genuine service, — first 
to yourself, for you will never be quite so contented witli 
a low one; and second, to yotn' pocket, which will feel 
the difference in the fall; third, to 3)'our family and com- 
munity in setting them a good example ever to follow, and 
fourth, to posterity, for to them you will leave some acres 
more fertile than you found them, and upon which they. 



CoTTOW. 1 I 

ill liiriij can receive a just return for all their labor ex- 
pended upon such lands. 
October, 1906. 



A VISIT TO MK. FOWLEK'S PLA^ttaTION. 

FROM THE DAILY MAIL. 

One of the finest farms in Anderson County is that of 
Mr. J. S. Fowler, and that, of course, means that Mr. 
Fowler is one of the best farmers in the county. A rep- 
resentative of ''The Daily Mail" spent one afternoon not 
long ago riding over Mr. Fowder's big farm in company 
with the proprietor, and some account of the trip and of 
the information gathered, may be of interest to the farmer 
readers of the paper and to the public^generally. 

Mr. ]"^wler's specialty is cotton. He raises a great deal 
of corn and forage, but cotton is his main crop. He is an 
expert, but he is making experiments every year, and he 
is constantly improving. ^^Cotton-growing is just in its 
infancy,'^ said he, ^'The farmers of the South are just 
learning how to grow it. Progressive men are now^ grow- 
ing as much on one acre as they grew on five acres ten 
years ago, and believe we have just commenced. There 
is no telling how much a man can raise, by intelligent 
farming." 

Mr. Fowler has one field of two hundred acres Avhich, 
conservative men say, will make 200 bales. Some parts 
of it will make two bales to the acre, and some may make 
three. All of it is fine cotton. Different parts of the 
field were planted at different times, under different con- 
ditions, and of different varieties of- seed, and Mr. Fow- 
ler is watching all the experiments in an intelligent man- 



IL' Sotri'ii Kiv'X ( 'k-oi's. 

iier. lie is able lo puiiit out in a remarkably intelligent 
manner the relations between cause and effect. It is most 
interesting to hear him talk. 

''I have learned two things about raising cotton," said 
Air. Jj'owler, ''in the first place, deep plowing is the main 
thing, and in the second place, fertilizers should be placed 
on the ground broadcast, instead of in the drill. A mod- 
erate amount of fertilizers placed broadcast on the ground 
just before planting, followed by top dressings from time 
to 'time while the crop is growing, is worth ten times as 
much [IS the same amonnt of fertilizers placed in a bed un- 
der the seed in the old-fashioned way. 

'The theory of deep plowing is that it loosens the land. 
The mellow laud will shod water in a rainy year, and it 
will liold moistnre in a dry year. It will absorb the fer- 
tilizing properties in the water and in the air better. And 
deep plowing before planting makes the crop so much eas- 
ier to cultivate. A man can work more land to the plow. 

"And as to fertilizing. The fertilizer, whatever is 
used, should be sown broadcast just l)eforo ]danliiig and 
harrowed in lightly, and the cotton planted on a level. 
r)irt should be Avorked to the cotton stalk, instead of away 
from it. The cotton- stalk puts ont shoots or feeders, all 
during the growing season. Where yon put all the fer- 
tilizer under the seed, and then work the dirt away from 
the stalk, these shoots or feeders are starved out. Only 
a small proportion of the fertiliz(^R_gets to the stalk through 
the main tap-root. On the other hand if you broadcast 
the fertilizer you will work- it to the stalk all through the 
growing season, as the stalk needs it, and you get the most 
benefit. Then you can follow with additional fertilizer, 



1 

while the crop is growing, and according to the seasons and 
the needs of the plant. 

'*Orie of my neighbors has a poor cotton crop, yet his 
land is of the same equality as mine and he used as mnch 
fertilizer as I did. The tronble is that he buried all his 
fertilizer in a deep furrow, before planting, and the cot- 
ton has not been able to get to it." 

Mr. Fowler is a great beli(^ver in applying fertilizers 
after planting, and while the crop is growing. He has 
made a nund) "r of experiments, but his favoj^te fertilizer 
for top dressing is a mixture of about equal parts of 
jicid, cottonsei'd-mcal and nitrate of soda. The results 
of such an application can be seen on a cotton crop within 
a day's time, he says. Last year he applied a dressing 
of this mixture on about half of one of his fine fields of 
cotton. There; was a marvellous difference in the yichl 
of that part of the field which received the fertilizing, 
and that which had not. Mr. Fowler was satisfied , with 
that, but this year, he says, there is just as great a differ- 
ence in the field as there was last year. The fertilizer 
applied to the growling cotton last July, is showing up on 
this year's crop even better than it did on last year's crop. 

Mr. Fowler's cotton crop of two years ago was ad- 
mired by all who saw it, and was pronounced to be the. 
finest cotton crop ever seen in this part of the State. The 
greater part of this year's crop is even finer than that of 
two years ago, in spite of the excessive rains and unfavor- 
able conditions. 

l\fr. Fowler has bought up a large plantation by buy- 
ing land from time to time. Some of the land, when he 
bought it, was w^orn out and was just about as poor land 



44 Southern Ckops. % ' 

as was to be found in Anderson County. Witliin a few 
years he has brought it up to a wonderfully high state of 
cultivation. He was asked as to the cost of building up 
and if the value of the crop was ever exceeded by the 
fertilizing and work of a single year. '^ISlo, indeed," 
was the reply. ^^The fertilizing will pay for itself every 
year, many times over, if properly applied and if the land 
is properly worked — that is, if intelligence is used. The 
secret of buil<ling up land is to keep it shaded during the 
summer, and to plow deep. The vegetation of a rank 
cotton crop goes back into the soil, and is a splendid fer- 
tilizer in itself. The rank cotton weed shades the land in 
summer, and when the stalks, leaves and bolls are turned 
under in the fall or spring it keeps the soil porous so that 
ir readily assimilates manures and is easily cultivated. 
Once you get the land to growing a crop that will shade it 
in summer it will take care of itself. The rest will bo 
easy." 

Mr. Fowler has about 150 acres in corn this year, most 
of it on creek and branch bottoms. He counted on making 
8,000 or 9,000 bushels, but the heavy rains this year 
washed his crop away, and he will not make more than 
half the corn that he counted on. The upland corn is, 
as a rule, better than that in the bottoms, which Avere re- 
peatedly overflowed. But he will make tons 'and tons of 
forage, enough to run. the plantation, and he has hay in 
barns that is two years old. "-- ^ 

Mr. Fowler does not go very heavily on oats or wheat. 
He says he can make more money with the same land in 
other crops. "One great trouble with wheat and oats," 
he said, "is that harvest time comes on just as all the 



Cotton. 45 

work possible is needed on the cotton and corn. A man 
who has a great deal of cotton and a great deal of grain 
is bound to neglect one or the other, and I had rather take 
chances with the cotton." 

Mr. Fowler has a pasture that ought to be seen by every 
large land-owner in the country. He has 45 acres, w^ell 
sodded in Bermuda grass, and it is as near perfection 
as can be. He has demonstrated that Bermuda grass 
can be successfully grown in this section, a fact w^hich 
many people have doubted. .Vbout 20 acres of the pasture 
is shaded, with scrub oaks and like growth, and yet the 
grass is growing as luxuriantly in the shade as in the open 
sun. All the horses and mules, cows, goats, sheep, etc., 
of the plantation have the run of the pasture, and all are 
in prime condition. Mr. Fowler says his pasture is the 
most valuable land that he has, and this is easily believed 
])y those who have seen it. The pasture was sodded four 
years ago, and with occasional plowings it will need no 
more attention for years to come and will provide an 
abundant grazing for many head of cattle for the greater 
part of each j-ear. 

And with all his success with cotton and corn, Mr. Fow- 
ler says Anderson County should be a stock-raising sec- 
tion. ^'We can do better with stock here than anything 
else,'^ he said. "There is enough idle land in this county 
to grow all the beef that South Carolina uses every year. 
We can have just as fine grasses as can be found in any 
of the stock-raising sections of the country, and we can 
grow horses, mules or any cattle here just as cheaply and 
as successfully as anywhere. All that we have to do is to 
do it. Once get a Bermuda grass pasture started and it 



40 SOUTIEEEN CkOI'S. 

is easil}' done, the cattle will take care of themselves, and 
furnish free of cost manure to hiiild up the worn-ont farms. 
When our people wake up to their possibilities there will 
l)e a long ways greater development than we have seen in 
the past few years. And this is coming before a great 
while — ^I am sure of that.'' 

A visit to My. Fowler's big farm is most interesting, 
and instructive as well. One can learn a great deal in a 
few years. Mr. Fowler knows a great deal about farming, 
and is still trying to learn more. Hv experiments every 
year, and puts the results of his experiments into practice, 
for his own good and for the benefit of all who want t(^ 
visit him and see what he has done. It will be well worth 
anybody's while to visit his farm, and he will always take 
jtleasure in showing visitors over the place. 



C'o.MMKXT BY THE EoiTOR OV TIIESoUTnERX (,'*ULTIVAT01{ .' 

We have seen Mr. J. S. Fowler's farm and know it to 
Ix- fine, and that all contained in this article is true. Air. 
Fowler, like all who have set themselves to understand 
the laws of nature and to apply this knowledge to their 
farm operations is making a splendid success of farming. 
He is correct in his views of having cott(^n large enough to 
shade (he land in summer; and we will also profit equally 
when we begin to <how something to cover the land in win- 
ter. We ai-e learning ami liave>i;mch yet to learn. South 
('ai-olina ha- sonii' \'ery line fai-mer;^, a.nd Mr. Fowler is 
anionii' (his nnndx'i'. 



Cotton. 47 

"THE WAV TO PREPARE YOVM COTTOA' FOP 
MARKET.'' 

We have lieard onr leaders and ablest speakers upon 
tliis important subject; but it remained, for our Congress- 
man, Hon. Lon Livingston, from I^ewton County, Georgia, 
to give us the clearest and most concise presentation of this 
vital subject in an address to the Farmers' Institute, held 
in Covington, Ga. lie said in substance: 

1. Gather it right. It is ruinous policy to rush our 
cotton from the field to the gin. We lose from % to % 
cent in grade ; then twenty bales gathered and packed down 
in a cotton house would yield 21 bales in lint, by the lint 
growing longer and the oil coming out of the seed into the 
fiber. He illustrated this by the fact that a person's hair 
grows after they are dead. He estimates we lose at 
least $2.50 per bale in this hurrying our cotton to the gin. 
As niir mills weave finer and fiuei' fal)rics, they want, and 
will pay for a better grade of cotton. This point can not 
be stressed too much. Do not rush your cotton either to 
the gin or upon the market, delay both as long as you are 
in position to do so. 

2. See that it is put in a neat package by the ginner, 
and keep it out of the weather. Xo farmer should receive 
a bale from his ginner that is not ])oth neatly and securely 
] Kicked. We lose from 75 cents to $1.00 per bale here. 

o. Ascerlaiu jusi as nearly as you can what the spin- 
ners of the world will consume, and also wliat Avill be oiii- 
])robable yield. The law of supply and demand ought 
to fix the price and would do so, if so many interventions 
and go-betweens were not brought into ])lay, to prevent 



48 * SouTiiKKN Ckops. 

its doing so. Do not trust this lo othors, l)ut read your 
papers and learn for yourself. 

4. Sell your cotton. as it is consumed — not all in three 
months, but in twelve. TsTo middleman or millman is go- 
ing to carry thin cotton for us, without insurance, storage, 
interest upon their money and then a profit. We can do 
it more cheaply than we can hire them to do it for us. 
This costs us about $4.00 per bale. 

5. Xever sell one bale or ten bales. Through your 
clubs sell in 25, 50, 100 and 1,000 bale lots. Cotton 
sold in this way always commands from \\ to % cent 
more. It is just as improvidon! to sell by the bale as it 
Avould be to buy sugar by the 10 cents worth. 

6. I^ever be in a hurry to sell, when everybody (dsc is 
selling; it is a good time to hold. When every one is hold- 
ing, you can use judgment in selling, because there will 
be a better demand. 

7. Cut down your area half and produce twice the 
amount per ac7'e. This makes it cost you much less to 
produce it. 

ft. G(^t better seed, as this also reduces IIk^ cost. 

9. The baidxcrs and Inisiness men calculate to a 'Snill" 
llicii- iiH'onic aiul oii(-go. Tf w(^ will guard all these leaks, 
we can save at least $10.00 on every bale of cotton we 
row. Sec what it will mean to the comfort and wealth 
(►f the producers. \\'c waul to add l^fo. 10. We have seen 
ihoiisands of aci-cs of c(tt(on in our Soutldand thai is as 
fine as we ev(M- saw, and Ihousands the poorest. Why this 
latter condilion? Tlie hick of work. They will say too 
much rain, bnt we s;iy loo little work. Do not plant so 



11 



Cotton. 49 

iiinoli. Do not ]ilan1, more than yon can cnltivalo well. 
''J'is not a lack of ]al)or we are suffering from, it is over- 
acreage in cotton and cultivated crops. Sow in grain, put 
in grass. 

The proper study of these ten questions will go far to- 
wards settling "the making of our cotton crop." We be- 
lieve in our Cotton Association and our Farmers' Union. 
They are necessary, but do your own work and your own 
thinking, do not turn these over to any one to be done for 
you; theji act in concert. 

The success of an army depends upon its soldiers, as 
well as upon the general ; and the success of our organized 
cotton movement must depend upon^the individual, his 
intelligence and his work. Now let us tabulate just what 
tjie individual can add to the value of his cotton or save to 
liimself in marketing it. These figures are conservative 
and show that we have it clearly within our poAver to in- 
crease the value of our cotton to us $10.00 per bale. The 
merchant figures to a cent, the banker to a mill, while 
we by our. carelessness lose or thro^v away dollars. Here 
we give you our figures : 

1. One bale of cotton out of twenty from hurrying 

to gin .5 per cent $2.50 

2. One fourth of a cent per ])ound in damage to 

staple 1.25 

3. Selling by the bale instead of in 100 bale lots one 

fourth per cent 1.25 

4. Loss from improper baling and not covering 75 

5. To insurance on stored cotton 6 months 10 cents 

per hale . . , . 60 

4 



50 SOTITHERN (IrOT'S, 

6. Warehouse storage H uioiillis at 250. \)v.\' month. . 1.50 

7. Interest on $50 per bale nioiitlis at 8 per cent. . . 2.00 



$9.85 
Or in round numbers, our cotton is subjected to a tax 
of ten dollars per bale ere it reaches the spinner. Any 
thinking man can see that our cotton has been subjected 
to this legitimate tax by our carelessness and our middle- 
men, to say nothing of the slice taken by the speculator. 
If we will study the question and take advantage of those 
suggestions we can save this money to our own pockets, 
and if we can not save it all at once we should begin to 
work at once to save all we can and continue alonir this 
line of work until we could save it all. We are robbirig 
no one to get our dues, but we will certainly continue to 
lose until we change and improve our methods. 



CORN 

No other argument for corn culture has such convincing 
force as the spectacle of a successful corn grower's heavy 
yield. Or if there is another argument as strong it is a 
practical statement by a practical farmer of how he se- 
cures a large yield. For our shortage in corn production 
is due largely to two causes: lack of faith in our land to 
produce paying crops on it and ignorance of the methods 
by which these crops can be assured. 

. The following articles should therefore stimulate and ii. 
crease the production of corn among their readers. It is 
worth noting that there are several points upon which all 
the practical farmers who have contributed these papers 
unite, and these we may safely conclude are the prime es- 
sentials. 

Without laying emphasis upon the order we may name 
these as: 1st, deep and thorough preparation; 2nd, heavy 
manuring and supplying sufficient plant food at earing 
time; 3rd, thick planting; 4th, shallow cultivation; and 
we may add, though it is not always brought out as clearly ; 
5th, good seed. 

Tf these conditions are complied with, the grower may 
confidently expect a profitable yield. 



THE WILLIAMSON CORN METHOD. 

BY E. MCIVER WILLIAMSON. 

Eor a number of years after I began to farm I followed 
the old time method of putting -the fertilizer all under the 
corn, planting on a level or higher, six by three feet, push- 



52 SouTTiEKN Crops. 

ing the phui from tlic start and uiakiiig a big stalk, but 
the ears were few and frequently small. I planted much 
corn in the spring and bought much more corn the next 
spring, until finally I was driven to the conclusion that 
corn could not be made on uplands in this section, certainly 
not by the old method, except at a loss. 

I did not give up, however, for L knew that the farmer 
who did not make his own corn never had succeeded, and 
never would, so I began to experiment. First, I planted 
lower, and the yield was better, but the stalk was still too 
large, so I discontinued altogether the application of fer- 
tilizer before planting, and knowing that all crops should 
be fertilized at some time, I used mixed fertilizer as a 
side application and applied the more soluble nitrate of 
soda later, being guided in this by the excellent results 
obtained from its use as a top-dressing for oats. Still 
the yield, though regular, was not large, and the smallness 
of the stock itself now suggested that they should be 
planted thicker in the drill. This was done the next year 
with results so satisfactory that T continued from year to 
year to increase the number of stalks and the fertilizer, 
with which to sustain them, also to apply nitrate of soda 
at last plowing, and to lay by early, sowing peas broadcast. 
This method steadily increased the yield, until year before 
last (1904) wnth corn eleven inches apart in six-foot rows 
and $11 worth of fertilizer to the acre, I made 84 bushels 
average to the acre, several of n¥y best acres making as 
much as 125 bushels. 

Last year (1905) 1 follow^ed the same method', planting 
the first week in April, 70 acres which had produced the 
year before 1,000 pounds seed cotton per acre. This land 



Corn. 53 

is sandy upland, somewhat rolling. Seasons were very 
unfavorable, ovv^ing to the tremendous rains in May, and 
the dry and extremely hot* weather later. From June 12 
to July 12, the time when it most needed moisture, there 
\vas only five-eighths of an inch of rainfall here ; yet with 
$7.01, cost of fertilizer, my yield was 52 bushels per acre. 
Hows were six feet and corn sixteen inches in drill. 

With this method, on land that will ordinarily produce 
1,000 pounds of seed cotton with 800 pounds of fertilizer, 
50 bushels of corn per acre should be made by using 200 
pounds of cottonseed-meal, 200 pounds of acid phosphate, 
and 400 pounds of kainit mixed, or their equivalent in 
other fertilizer, and 125 pounds of nitrate of soda, all to 
be used as side application as directed below. 

On land that will make a bale and one half of cotton 
])er acre when well fertilized, a hundred bushels of corn 
should be produced by doubling the amount of fertilizer 
above, except that 300 pounds of nitrate of soda should 
be used. 

In each case there should bo left on the land in corn- 
stalks, peas, vines and roots, from $12 to $16 worth of 
fertilizer material per acre, besides the great benefit to the 
land from so large an amount of vegetable matter. The 
place of this in the permanent improvement of land can 
never be taken by commercial fertilizer, for it is absolutely 
impossible to make lands rich as long as they are lacking 
in vegetable matter. 

Land should be thoroughly and deeply broken for corn, 
and this is the time in a system of rotation to deepen the 
soil. Cotton requires a more compact soil than corn, and 
while a deep soil is essential to its best development, h 



54 SouTiiERiM Crops. 

will iiol, produce as well on loose open land, while corn docs 
best on land tlioronghly broken. A deep soil will not 
onlj produce more heavily than a shallow soil with good 
seasons, but it will stand more wet as well as more dry 
weather. 

In preparing for the corn crop, land should be broken 
broadcast during the winter one-fourth deeper than it has 
been plowed before, or if much vegetable matter is being 
turned under,, it may be broken one-third deeper. 'J'his 
is as much deepening as land will usually stand in one 
year and produce well, though it may be continued each 
year, so long as much dead vegetable matter is being turned 
under. Tt may, how^evor, be svd^soiled to any depth by fol- 
lowing in bottom (►f turn-plow furrow, provided no more 
of the subsoil than lias been directed, is turned up. Break 
with two-horse plow if possible, or better, with disc plow. 
With the latter cotton-stalks or corn-stalks as large as Ave 
ever make, can be turned under without having been 
chopped, and in pea-vines it will not choke or drag. 

Kever plow land when it is wet, if you expect ever to 
have any use for It again. 

Bed with turn-plow^ in six-foot roAvs, leaving five-inch 
balk. When ready to plant, break 'his out with scooter, 
following 111 bottom of this furroAV deep with Dixie plow, 
wing taken off. TJidge then on this furrow Avith same plow, 
still going deep. TJun corn planW on this ridge, drop])ing 
one grain every five or six inches. "Plant early, as soon as 
frost danger is past, say first seasonable spell affi;r Maich 
15, in this section. "Especially is early planting neces- 
sary on very rich lands where stalks can not otherAvise be 
prevented from groAving too large. Give first Avorking 



Corn, 



00 



with harrow or any plow that will not cover the plant, 
lor second working, use ten or twelve-inch sweep on both 
sides of corn, which should now be about eight inches high. 
Thin after this working. It is not necessary that the 
plants should be left all the same distance apart, if the 
right number remains to each yard of row. 

Corn should not be worked again until the growth has 
been so retarded, and the stalk so hardened that it will 
never grow too large. This is the most difficult point in 
the whole process. Experience and judgment are required 
to know just how much the stalk should be stunted, and 
plenty of nerve is required to hold back your corn when 
your neighbors, who fertilized at planting time and culti- 
vated rapidly, have corn twice the size of yours. (They 
are having their fun now. Yours will come at harvest 
time.) The richer the land the more necessary it is that 
the stunting process should be thoroughly done. 

When you are convinced that your corn has been suffi- 
ciently humiliated, you may begin to make the ear. It 
shoidd now be from twelve to eighteen inches high, and 
look worse than you have ever had any corn to look before. 

Put half your mixed fertilizer (this being the first used 
at all) in the old sweep furrow on both sides of every other 
middle, and cover by breaking out this middle with turn 
plow. About on^ week later treat the other middle the? 
same way. Within a few days side corn in first middle 
with sixteen-inch sweep. Put all your nitrate of soda in 
this furrow, if loss than 150 pounds. If more, use one- 
half of it now. Cover with one furrow of turn-plow, then 
sow peas in this middle broadcast at the rate of at least 
one bushel to the acre, and finish breaking out. 



56 SoirTiii'MJX Ciioj's. 

Ill a few days side eoni in ollior middle with same 
sweep, put bjihmcc of nili-jitc of soda in lliis furrow if it 
lias been divided, coxcr willi liini-plow, sow peas, and 
l)veak oiil. This lavs l»y your croj) with a good bod and 
])lenty of dirt aioimd your stalk.- This should be from 
dune 10 to '20, unless s(^ason is very late, and coi'ii should 
be hardly buiu^hiui!; for tassel. 

i^ay by early. Moi'e corn is ruined by late ))l(^win<i; 
than by lack of |)lowiui;'. This is when the ear is hurt. 
'J'wo good rains aflei- laying by should uuike vou a good 
crop of coi'u, ami it will certainly make with much less 
I'ain than if ])ushed and fertilized in the old way. 

The stalks thus i-aised are \-ery small, and do not re- 
(|uii-e anything like the moislure e\'en in propih'tion to 
size, that is neeessary for large sai)i)y stalks. Tlu'y may, 
therefore, be left much thicker in the row. This is no 
new process. It has long been a cnslom to cut back vine^ 
and trees in ordtM* to increase the yi(dd and quality of 
fruit, and so long as you do not hold back your corn, it 
w ill go, like mine so long w(Mit, all t<^ stalk. 

Do not be discoui'aged by the looks of your corn during 
(he process of cnltivjit iou. It will yitdd out of all propor- 
tion to its ai)pearauce. Lai'ge stalks can not \\\:\ko large 
yields, except with extremely favorable seasons, for they 
can not stand lack of moisture. Karly a])plications of 
mauui-e go to nndvc large stalks, whicl^ Vou do not want, and 
the |)lant food is all thus used up before the ear, which you 
do want, is made. Tall stalks not only will not produce 
well themselves, but will not allow yon to make the pea- 
vines, so necessary to the improvement of lanil. Oorii 



Corn. 57 

raised by tliis ni(;thod slKuild never grow over seven and a 
half feet high, and the ear should he near to the ground. 

I consider the Hiial application of nitrate of soda an 
essential point in this ear-making process. It should al- 
ways be applied at last plowing and unmixed with other 
fertilizers. 

1 am satisfied with one ear to the stalk, unless a prolific 
variety is planted, and leave a hundred stalks for every 
laishel that I expect to make. 1 hnd the six-foot row eas- 
iest to cultivate without injuring the corn. For fifty- 
bushels to the acre, 1 leave it sixteen inches apart, for 
seventy-five bushels to the acre twelve inches apart, and 
for (me hundred bushels eight inches apart. Corn should 
be planted from foui* to six inches below the level, jind 
laid by from four to six inches above. No hoeing should 
be necessary, and middles may be kept clean until time to 
break out, by using harrow or by running one slioxcl fur- 
row in center of middle and bedding on tliat, with ou« 
or more rounds of turn-plow. 

T would advise only a few acres tried Iw this method 
tlie first year, ov until you are familiar with its applica- 
tion. Especially is it hard, at first, f-o fully carry out 
th(^ stunting ju'ocess, where a whole crop is involved, and 
this is the absolutely essential part of tbe process. 

This method 1 have applie<l or seen apj^lied success- 
fidly, to all kinds of land in this section except wet lands 
and moist bottoms, and 1 am confident it can be made of 
great benefit, throughout the entire South. 

Tn the middle West, where corn is so prolific and 
|U'ofitable, and where, unfoi-tuujitely foi- us, so much of 
ours has been produced, the stalk does not miturally grow 



58 Southern Ceops. 

large. As Ave come South its size increases, at tlie expense 
of the ear, until in Cuba and Mexico it is nearly all stalk 
(witness Mexican varieties). 

The purpose of this method is to eliminate this tendency 
of corn to overgrowth at the expense of yield, in this 
Southern climate. 

By this method i have made my corn crop more profit- 
able than my cotton crop, and my neighbors and friends 
who have adopted it, have, without exception, derived 
great benefit" therefrom. 

Plant your own seed. I would not advise a change of 
seed and method th" same year, as you will not then know 
from which you have derived the beneht. 1 have used 
three* varieties, and all have done well. 1 have never used 
this method for late planting. In fact, I do not advise 
the late planting of corn, unless it be necessary for cold 
lowlands. 

The increased cost of labor and the high price of all 
material and land, are rapidly making farming unprofit- 
able, except to those who are getting from one acre, what 
they formerly got from two. We nmst make onr lands 
richer by plowing deep, planting peas and other legumes, 
manuring them with acid phosphate and potash, which 
are relatively cheap, and returning to the soil the resultant 
vegetable matter rich in humus and expensive nitrogen. 
The needs of our soil are suclktliat the South can never 
reap the full measure of prosperity Hhat should be here, 
until this is done. 

I give this metliod as a farmer to the farmers of the 
South, trusting that thereby they may be benefited as I 
have been. 



COEN. 59 



ONE-ACRE CROP ANALSIS. 



Nitro. Acid Potash. V 

Phos. 



2,800 pounds corn (grain) 51 20 11 

500 pounds shucks. 5 2 7 

400 pounds cobs 2 2 

^^i" taken from land 58 22 20 

1,200 pounds corn-stalks 12 3 17 

3,000 pounds peas, vines and roots 

in corn ,. . . . 59 16 41 



Entire crop contains 129 41 81 28.26 

Taken from land "A" 58 22 20 12.03 

Left for next crop 71 19 61 16.23 

100 bushels oats and straw will re- 
quire 78 31 48 

1,500 pounds seed cotton an<l stalks 

will require 64 17 56 

50 bushels corn, cobs and shucks 

will require 70 25 37 

Darlington County, S. C. 



THE LARGEST YIELD OF CORN AS MADE BY 
Z. J. DRAKE, OF-MARLBORO COUNTY, S C. 

The American Agriculturist offered a prize of $500 for 
the largest yield of corn per acre. The highest in the 
Eastern States was that of Mr. Alfred Rose of New York, 
and the largest yield ever known was that of Mr. Z. J. 
Drake of South Carolina, over 254 bushels per acre. We 
give an account of Mr. Drake's yield and method of ma- 
nuring and cultivation: 



60 SoUTilEKN CkOI'S. 

jVir. Z. J. Drake of Marlboro County, S. C, made 254 
bushels and 4U pounds per acre. The committee which 
measured and certified to the yield consisted of Mr. J. 
0. Campbell, a member of the Board of County Commis- 
sioners, who represented The American Agriculturist ; 'Mx. 
W. E. Kinney, an ex-member of the legislature; Mr. G. 
M. S. Dunn, a local Baptist preacher; and Messrs. Jolui 
\i. Keynolds and John W. Tart. Col. Knox Livingston, 
who saw a part of the corn weighed, says that the grains 
were the largest he ever beheld, but that the length of the 
(H)b was not great. 

Mr. J. C. Campbell says: ''The acre had been carefully 
measured by our surveyor, Mr. W. B. Alford. The corn 
was carefully weighed on tested scales and every effort 
was apparently put forth to have the harvesting lumestly 
done, and resulted in 254 bushels and 49 pounds. 

The land was sandy and had been previously valued at 
only $8 an acre. Thirty years ago the plantation was 
christened '^Starvation Empire," and as late as 1887 the 
prize acre itself produced only about five bushels of corn. 
The fertilization in 1889 began in February and was con- 
tinued several times during the making of the crop. The 
total material used was 1,000 busheis of stable manure, 600 
bushels of cottonseed, 866 pounds each of German kainit 
and cottonseed-meal, 200 pounds acid phosphate, 166 
pounds manipulated guano, 2BQ pounds animal bone, 400 
pounds of nitrate of soda — the value of the stable manure 
being $50 and the other fertilizers $170. 

The seed planted was Drake's Improved Corn, a variety 
of gourd seed raised by Mr. Drake. One bushel was 
used. The planting was done Maivh 2nd, and on June 



COEN. 61 

in til, posts }iii<l stakes had lo l>e put up aloii^^ tlie rows to 
keep the corn from falling. The rows were alternately 
about three and six feet apart, one stalk in a place. The 
crop was harvested iVoveniber 25th. The total cost was 
$264.42. The prodnct, 2:)4 l)nsliels and 49 ponnds, at 75 
cents a bushel, was wortli $15)1.10. The fodder, one and a 
half tons, was worth $15. Total, $206.16. But it is esti- 
mated that the land is good for a hundred dollar crop for 
several years to come, not considering the $1,000 prize the 
crop of 1889 has unquestionably won. 

Mr. Drake dug a well and made fnll preparations to 
irrigate it, but the seasons were so fine that the w^ell was 
not used at all. The corn was prevented from falling by 
a framework of laths, wire and twine, which somewhat 
resembled the butter bean frames that our mammas used 
to make us make. 

The appearance of the corn when green w^as like half a 
dozen sugar-cane patches piled np on top of each other. 

Mr. Drake built a frame scaffold in amphitheatre style, 
so that curious multitudes could mount up and Ixdiold 254 
bushels of corn c^rowino; on a sino'le acre. 

The yield is a phenomenal one, and Capt. Drake is to 
1)0 congratulated on securing the ])rize of $500 offered by 
Tlie Anierican ArjrindturisI and $500 offered by th-' Shiti^ 
Agricultural Society of South Carolina. 

The following is the financial report made by Mr. Drake 
as to his corn, showing the cost of production and the valne 
of the product : 

Interest on value of land at 6 per cent $ 1.50 

Plowing 4.00 

Harrowing 2.00 



62 Southern Cropf;. 

Other labor preparing land 1.00 

Value stable manure 50.00 

Value of fertilizers or substances other than stable 

manure applied 169.00 

Cost of applying stable manure 2.00 

Cost of applying other fertilizers 5.00 

Cost of seed 1.00 

Cost of cultivating 9.00 

Other labor caring for crop 11.00 

Cost of harvesting 8.00 

Total cost of production $264.42 

Value 254 bushels, 49.50 pounds of corn at 75 

cents $191.16 

Value 11/2 tons fodder at $10 per tou 15.00 

Total value product $206.16 

This showing makes the cost above the value of the prod- 
uct, but does not take into account the value of the^ fer- 
tilizing material left in the soil. With a proper allow- 
ance for this it is believed the acre should be credited with 
at least $50 profit for this year's wonderful crop. 



TFIK noiIBLE T^OW SYSTEM OF PLANTTNG 
COR]^[. 



BY J. B. HUNNICUTT. 



Having received many letters of inquiry, how to raise 
corn on the intensive system, I have concluded to answer 
through your columns, if you think the matter of suffi- 



OOKN. 63 

(^ient interest to give it space. I know you arc; ready to 
publish any plan which you think will help the farmers. 

I plant double rows because 1 can not get stalks enough 
on an acre by any other plan and still have ventilation. 

1. Lay off rows six feet apart, subsoiling each row, 
then put in compost pretty heavy, say 500 pounds per acre. 

2. Bed on this, subsoil each furrow. 

3. Lay off rows 18 inches apart, on either side of the 
composted furrow and put 150 pounds per acre of good 
standard guano or phosphate, just as for cotton, and drop 
corn 18 to 24 inches apart in each row and cover lightly. 

4. When the corn is well up run one furrow with a 
^•ery long narrow plow between the narrow rows and follow 
with hoes. This completes first working. 

5. Ten days later run the same plow in the same fur- 
row again, and run a common 21/2-inch scooter around on 
the other side of the corn and follow with hoes. This 
completes second working. 

6. Ten days later run around the inside rows with a 
larger plow, throwing fresh earth to the corn, and in this 
furrow put 500 pounds per acre of compost and plow out 
middle with scrape or sweep, and follow with hoes. This 
completes third working. 

7. Ten days later take large shovel-plow and run a 
good furrow in the middle of the Avide rows and pnt 150 
pounds per acre of guano in this furrow and run around 
that furrow with broad scrapes (so shallow as not to cut 
many roots) until you get as near the corn as you wish. 
This completes the fourth plowing, and lays the crop by 
with a slight rise in the middle of the wide row, and a 
slight depression toward each corn row. 



64 SoTTTriERN Oeops. 

N^ow let us sec wliat we have done. The eoni lias been 
ciiltivated with 14 furrows to six-feet rows, and three or 
four hoeings, each very light, but very essential. And, 
as to cost, we have cultivated much cheaper than the usual 
plan requires. We have invested about $10 per acre in 
fertilizing, and $4 in work, thus: 
First manuring, 500 lbs. compost. .$2.50 
Second manuring, 150 lbs. guano. . 2.50 
Third manuring, 500 lbs. compost. 2.50 
Fourth manuring, 150 lbs. guano. . 2.50 

Total manuring $10.00 

Labor in distributing manure $1.00 

Labor in hoeing .75 

Labor in plowing . 2.50 

Total cost of labor per acre. . . 4.2-5 

Total cost per acre $14.25 



What return do we get for this heavy investment of $14 
])er acre — more, ]^erhaps, than the land was worth ? 
AVith three dry summers, seven, nine and eleven weeks 
drougth respectively, the writer gathered between forty 
and fifty bushels of good heavy corn per acre. Take the 
lowest figure, forty bushels per acre, and the cost will 
be 35 cents pei- bushel. If you make fifty bushels, the cost, 
\vill be only 28 cents. If the season should be favorable 
and you make sixty bushels per acre, then the' cost is re- 
duced to only 22Y2 cents. But this is not all. You have 
a very heavy crop of fodder and your laud is d^ulded in 



Corn, 65 

value; every acre thus treated is Avortli $^ to $L before, 
and will continue so for years. 

My experience is that this is the cheapest plan for 
raising corn on upland, the best plan for manuring poor 
hind, less liable to suffer from drouth and the only -way 
to compete with Western corn. We must get out of the 
old ruts or we can't keep up with the Western wagon. 

All I ask of any man is to give this plan a trial before 
condemning it. Do not let your prejudice against double- 
rowed corn prevent you from filling your crib with the 
cheapest corn you ever raised. Do not be afraid of every 
new idea, but '^prove all things, and hold fast to that 
Y^^hich is best." 

"Cheap bread" must be the foundation of all real sub- 
stantial prosperity i]i any and every agricultural com- 
munity. 

Turin, Ga., 1880. 



THE ALDRICH SYSTEM FOE PLA:NTI]S^G CORTs^ 
A:f^D COTTON. 

BY AI.FEED ALDRTOH. 

Believing that it will be of service to my fellow farm- 
ers, I will report my system of cultivating corn and cot- 
ton together on the same land, which system is now known 
in this State as "The Aldrieh System." Lay off land, after 
being well broken into rows four-feet wide. At the proper 
time to plant corn, drill seed in rows 1 and 2 at the rate 
of as many hundred hills per acre as you expect to gather 
bushels of corn, from your experience with the land and 
the fertilizers used on the crop. Leave rows 3 and 4 
5 



(\0 South loirx ( 'j;oi's. 

foi- col loll to be planted later. Plant rows 5 and (> in 
corn, leaving 7 and 8 for cotton and so continue until the 
field is all planted in corn. Then plant the rows that 
were left in cotton, and cultivate as usual. By this sys- 
tem you utilize all your land for corn, and yet have half 
of it in cotton. In other words you double^ your corn crop 
without diminishing your cotton crop. Where it has been 
the custom to divide the land between the two crops, you 
make more corn per acre than you ever made before, and 
also more cotton and cheaper cotton, because the plowing 
of the cotton is done when you are cleaning the corn mid- 
dles. By this system, a horse can tend thirty-six acres 
better, and keep it cleaner than he can thirty by the other 
way. 

Corn ceases to draw from the land after the first of 
August, so the cotton has from the first of Angust till 
frost to feed on donble the soil that it would have if all 
the land w^ere in cotton, hence it makes a better late crop, 
that is, more top crop. 

The farmer who uses this system does not have to plant 
oats. He must either sell corn or raise more stock to con- 
sume the snr]^liis. 

T am a small farmer, rnnning a one and a half-horse 
farm. 1 feed four horses, six cows and a few pigs, and 
from Octol)er to January, seven hnndred to one thousand 
head of fowls, and it takes abou^^bushel of corn per day, 
with unlimited range of rye, vetch and Bermuda grass 
and burr clover to do it, but yet I have five hundred bushels 
of prime corn for sale and on a part of the same land on 
which that corn grew, T made a thousand pounds of seed 
cotton per acre, 



Corn. 67 

The biiahel of corn per day above mentioned is for the 
fowls. From January to April the fowls rapidly dimin- 
ished in number by sales, till l)y May there were not more 
than iwenty-five or thirty hens and two or three cocks, but 
the horses and cows are a fixed (piantity. My system 
shows up splendidly in a drouth. 

Last season we had too much rain from May till the 
12th of July, after which it turned dry and hot with 
plenty of wind until the night of the 30th of July, but I 
made a full crop of corn and my cotton shed less than that 
of any of my neighbors, many of whom did not make a 
thousand pounds of seed cotton per acre where all the land 
was in cotton. 

By this system, cotton becomes indeed a surplus crop. 
You will have corn enough to sell to pay operating ex- 
penses. 



Comment by the Editoe : 

Mr. Aldrich suggests a great change in our system of 
farming. He proposes to grow two full crops upon the 
land at the same time. He claims that this can be done 
successfully without either crop interfering materially 
with the other. 

His experience seems to make hi^^ claim good. 

Growing corn and cotton together is no new idea. Ft 
was very commonly practiced during the war in the sixties. 

We then crossed the cotton rows every twelve or sixteen 
feet and planted corn right in the cotton rows. Many 
claimed then that very little if any damago resulted to the 
cotton crop. And fhe corn was large and heavy and al- 
most or quite a full yield, 



68 vSoiJTiiERN Crops. 

Now AJr. Aldricli proposes to do the same thing, with 
a slight uio(lifi(^ation of the plan of planting. He claims 
that as the corn matures earlier than the cotton and ceases 
to draw upon the soil for water or food, that the only way 
in which the corn interferes is, in making the cotton a little 
later in fruiting. 

This is often no damage to the cotton. We all know 
that a good August crop of bolls makes the best yield of 
cotton in most of the South. A July crop is not often a 
full one. 

The question is one of great importance and certainly 
worthy of a trial by every farmer. 

His plan gives us two rows of corn every sixteen feet. 
But he does not make the rows eight feet a])nrt; he has 
twelve feet and four feet. Kow^ by crowding the corn in 
these rows we can get a full crop of stalks on the land. 

The point to be settled by experiment is, how far we 
can safely carry this crowding. 

The same is true of the cotton. 

l^ow if we will take another step and cut the (^u-n for 
shredding, there will be no more interference with cotton. 
After that, not only will the roots have all the soil to feed 
from, but the sunshine and atmosphere will have full room 
to get in all their work. 

There will certainly be a great savino- of labor and a 
Tnore perfect utilization of all fbirtilizers. 

July 15, 1904. ' 



Corn. 69 

REMARKABLE CROP OF CORN. 

BY A. J. TINDAL. 

Commissioner Watson has received from Prof. Tiios. 
Sha^^•, the crop and grain expert, a report of the national 
corn contest in which this State took part, resulting in one 
of the principal prizes being won by A. J. Tindal, of Clar- 
endon County. The report is a valuable one inasmuch, as 
it advertises South Carolina extensively, comiiig as it does 
from an expert and also gives much valuable information 
to those who desire to follow Mr. Tindal's methods in 
planting corn to obtain the best results. Commissioner 
Watson said yesterday that he was particularly gratified 
at Mr. Tindal winning the prize because he was a gradu- 
ate of Clemson College and it proved to the world thai 
the State had an institution teaching scientific farming. 
The report in full is as follows : 

"The acre of corn grown by Mr. Tindal produced a re- 
markable yield. It made him the winner of a $100 prize 
(not including State prizes). The corn was grown on land 
possessed of a cash value of $30 per acre. The soil, rather 
low and naturally wet, has humus in its composition, at 
least to a considerable extent, is chocolate in color, and is 
underlaid at a depth of about two feet by mixed gravel 
and pipe clay of a non-receptive character. 

"The soil was naturally enriched by washings from the 
surrounding soil and had also been highly fertilized during 
the three previous years. It had in it open and some 
branch drains that were covered. In 1903, 600 pounds of 
gnano with a composition of 8.-8.-4., gave a return of 
1,827 of seed cotton. In 1904, 600 pounds of 4.-8.-4. 



70 Southern Crops. 

guano and 60 poniids of nitrate of soda gave 13'2 bushels 
of corn and 9 bushels of cuwpeas. In 1905, 600 pounds 
of guano, loo pounds of nitrate of soda and 30 pounds of 
nitrate of potash gave a yield of 3,912 pounds of seed 
cotton. 

PLANTING THE CORN. 

^'On April 5, 1900, the ground was plowed to the depth 
of 14 inches and the same day was cross-plowed and sub- 
soiled to the depth uf 20 inches, using a ten-inch turning 
plow, and the subsoil plow run in every furrow was home- 
made. Immediately after, the same day, a spring-tooth 
harrow was run over the acre to the depth of three inches 
and also a smoothing harrows On April 16 it was simi- 
larly harrowed and the harrow was at once followed by 
smoothing harrow. On May 7 it was harrowed in pre- 
cisely the same way as on April 16. 

"The fertilizer applied was as follows: 600 pounds of 
complete special guano containing 4 per cent, ammonia, 
8 per ('(^nt. phosphoric acid and 4 per cent, potash ; 500 
pounds of cottonseed-meal with a composition of 7.1, % 
and 1 ; 500 lbs. of Peruvian guano with a composition of 
8-8-5 and 2 ; and 400 pounds of nitrate of soda with 18 
per cent, of ammonia. The first three fertilizers were 
applied in a furrow on May 7th, at the time of the plant- 
ing of the corn, and the fourth was given as a top-dressing 
on June 15th. One man, with i^ile and plow, opened the 
furrows and three men applied the ^es^ing by hand. The 
cost of the fertilizer before application was $32.45 for 
the acre. 

"The variety planted was the Marlboro Prolific, grown 
l)y the owner, who in 1900 introrluced the variety into 



Corn. 71 

the ueighborhood. The seed was planted in rows that 
were made with the shovel. The kernels were buried 
three inches deep in a well-prepared soil and one inch 
apart in the line of the row. The rows were 33 inches 
distant and 28 quarts of seed were used, the germination 
of which was considered perfect. The weather was dry 
until June 10th and w^as then overwet. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT. 

''Expenditures were: 

Interest on land at 6 per cent • $ 1.80 

Cost of plowing 5.00 

Cost of harrowing 1.00 

Other labor in preparing land 1.00 

Cost of fertilizers 32.45 

Cost of applying fertilizers 1.00 

Cost of seed .50 

Cost of cultivating 2,50 

Cost of other work 1.50 

Cost of harvesting 9.80 

Total cost $ 56.65 

^'Eeceipts Avere: 

182 bushels corn at $2 $364.00 

3 tons stover at $6 18.00 

4,100 pounds fodder at $20 per ton 41.00 



Total receipts $423.00 

:N"et profit $366.45 

THE CARE OF THE CORN. 

"On May 16th a weeder was run over the corn to a 
depth of two inches. It w^as cultivated. May 2 2d and 



7 '2 Soirj'iiERN Crops. 

June 2d, with lO-incli s\veeps running to the depth of 
about one inch. On May 30th the crop was thinned by 
hand to thc^ distance of four to six inches between the 
plants and weeds were removed. One day with three men 
was occupied in the hand work. 

harvp:stjng the ckop. 

''On August 27th tlie tops were cut off and the fodder 
.stripped from tlio nar down. On November 30th the crop 
was harvested by plucking the ears. The same day the 
stubs of the stalks were- cut by hand and shredded. The 
yield of the coru was 182 bushels giving an average of 8G 
pei' cent, corn to cob. 

COMMENTS ON CROP. 

''The profit of $300.45 seems large, indeed, from one 
acre of land, but it will be noticed that in reaching it the 
entire crop is valued at $2 per bushel on the assumption 
that it will all make good seed. For that purpose 48 
bushels had been sold when the manual was filled out in 
the autumn of 1900. The fodder, which, 1 understand, 
means the tops and leaves, is valued at $20 per ton. 

"'J'o a Northern man this seems a very large valuation. 
Ijut suppose the entire crop is valued at 50 cents per 
bushel for feeding and the straw and fodder together at 
$5 per ton. These would be worth the figures named in 
any part of the United States; the net profit from the 
acre would still be $44.45, or con^derably more than the 
land is worth. In my judgment the State of South Caro- 
lina should give Mr. Tindal a medal for what he 'has done. 
TTis achievement is simply wonderful and the lessons from 
it are many. They include the following: 



74 



S<nri'm<;({N ( 'icoi-s. 



**IIc li:ih l.r(.ii;'lil inlo l>.*i(| ivlicf llic w i:,J(.iii of kci 



plllj! 



I;iii(l III ;i liii^li sl;ilf <.!' fn-l ili/;il loii, ;is m I IK),"., I!)()| :iii(i 
!!)():» Ii." -<.l oond i-cliinis IV..III lii-li rcflili/,:ili..ii. 

"lie lins (IciiK.iisI ruled llic -iv:il \iiliic of <l(v|» ;iii(| llior 
<nii;li ciiIMn;!! inn in Sdiillicrn soils when |)i'c|>;ii-iii^- llicni, 
iiiul «»| |nilvrri/,iii^ rnicK hdnrc |>l;iiiliiiL:; 

"llr li;is shown l,li;il, ;i rainier iniisl not l»r ;ilV;ii(l In 
pill on ;i lilllc Inird l;d)oi- wlirii i;ro\\ i n_i;- ('i-o|>s will he Ixmic 
iilcd l.y il. 

''il<' liiis im.'kIc il c'lcnr llial lo ol)l.:iin iiiiixiiniiin yields of 
corn llic shiiid niiisl. no| he iJiin oi- i i'r('i;nl;ir. 1 1 is rrop 
was L'l-own more closely llnin corn is nsniilly i;ro\vii, but, 
ol course, on some soils il iiiav lie necessary lo |daiil sonio- 
wlial more dislaiH. 

"lie lias shown thai in llie Soiilli a raniier may appiv 
ferlili/er ihal cosis him more lliaii his land is worth, aixi 
vet make ;i o'<><><l return for {\\i' investment. 

"lie has dcmoiisl.raled that a Soiitlu'in larmei" may 
make en«»rnioiis prolils from i^rowini;- seed corn. 

"Mnally he has sh(»\\n that in these Ihiilcd Slates wo 
arc oidy in the A 11 (* of possihle prodiiclion cd' i^raiiis." 

'IMiis rc(Mird is more noteworthy Ihan hrakc's, lor il 
has always heen iimlerstood that (\a|)l. Drake expended 
ii»<»r(^ in ohtainini;- his yn'ld than he recened in pi-ices. 

( ManMidon ( ^>llllt \', S. ( '. 



vAijir: OK F(vi>i)KirfN"/riii<: soim 



Prof. vShaw irj a separate arlide has ihe roll('>wiii<;- to say : 

''Ho fc^atnn* of tlie reports of the contestants for prizes 

in Ihe oi-;iin i^'rowcrs' contesj has surprised meniore than 



Corn. 75 

llic3 liigii value piil upon corn loddcr l)y cuuLestants living 
in the Soutli. Mr. A. J. Tindal, for instance, of Olarendon 
(Jounty, S. C, has liis cut down to the ears and lh(i fod(h;r 
stripped olf. The weiglil thus (jhtained from an aere, pre- 
sumahly cured, was 4,100 pounds. 'I'his he vahuul in his 
report at $20 per ton. The; corn fodder, presunnd)!^ the 
lower part of the stalk, was shr(^d<led. Three tons were^-ob- 
tained and this was valued at $0 per ton. These facts 
s|)(»nk loudly jis to the estimate of the value i)nt upon corn 
rod<l<M" in tlic Soiitli and in Ihc corn hclt, wlicire millions 
of acres go back ev(iry year to earth ungathered. It would 
seem scarcely ])0ssihle that such a difference could exist 
in the same country. 

''Thai millions and millions of acres of tliis produce 
should go to waste every year in the United States must 
ap[)eai' strange to the foreigner. That so much should be 
\\aste(l is indeed a stigma upon our agriculture, but it is 
a stigma (hat yields its gi'ound very sh)wly. One acre of 
corn sLov(ir pi*o])erly cured and fed is worth as much on 
lh(^ average as onc^ acre of timothy hay. The food thus 
grown on 1,(10(1,000 acres of corn in the stover is worth as 
much as tiie food grown on 1,000,000 acres of timothy 
liay. 'I'hc waste of 1,000,000 acres of corn fodder is 
lIuM-cforc equal to the waste of 1,000,000 acres of timo- 
lliy hay. 

^^Ft may be answered that live stock get some of the 
foddei- while grazing in llie fields. Tliey do, but more of 
il they do not get, and all of wlial llicy gel is itnpaircd in 
<|uali(y." 



70 S(>U'J'J1J<JKN (Jkui's. 

TiiE VALUE OF SiillEDDING COUiN. 

(),)5()0 Pounds of Corn and 6,000 Pounds o\' Stovkk 
Pek Acre. 

by w. l. i'eek. 

Now that it is almost a certainty that we are to reduce 
the acreage and fertilizers of this year's cotton crop, in 
fact, we are compelled to do it, or become absolute slaves 
t(» the cotton gamblers, and become too poor to skin, with 
our carcases petrified in poverty, our children servants to 
the money-changers and speculators who manipulate the 
price of our cotton, the finest money and commercial crop 
grown ill llie world, to the enrichment of all but the South 
-now as a prudent people we must hide ourselves, let the 
fools go on, and be destroyed. 

Why should one ask "JIow are we to hide ourselves in 
this land where everything can he produced that furnishes 
food and raiment for man and beast?'' 

N'ot a single atom that adds to our life, pleasure, com- 
fort, or happiness, but can be produced in this Southland, 

Last July, when that grand man, and lamented friend 
and brother of Southern agriculturists, J. B. Hunnicutt, 
[I man who has done more in one year for Southern farmers 
than the State Agricultural College has done in forty, was 
visit int>- me, I promised to givft^he Cui/nvATOR the re- 
sult of two special acres on my farm, one in corn, the other 
in sugar-cane. 

When the corn was good ripe it was cut with a har- 
vester, shocked r^OO stalks to the shock. 



Corn. 77 

It stood about ol2;hty clays in the shocks during- summer 
and early fall, and when dry and hauled, weighed 12,600 
pounds. Thou shredded with the followino; result: 

Net corn on cob 6,300 lbs. 

Net stover 6,000 lbs. 

The acre produced bread enough to feed a man and 
wife twelve months, and corn and stover sutficicuit to 
feed two mules twelve months. 

Now let some people say what they may about shred- 
ding corn. It is the most profitable of all work done on 
my farm. 

Conyers, Georgia. 



TIIK (^()I:N-STALK QIIESMMOjN. 

BY J. B. iriJNNIClJTT. 

Have you settled it? If so, on which side do you stand. 
As a farmer, you must raise cornstalks. You can not 
raise corn without them. So they cost you nothing to 
raise. They are strictly a by-product of growing corn. 
Now then, having these stalks, what will you do with them ? 
They have a value. They are worth something to you. 
Flow much they are worth depends upon how you dispose 
(»f them. The old way was, and is, to pull off the fodder 
<ind leave the stalk to rot in the field or to be burned next 
spring. This is a very losing way to use them. Tt costs 
as much to save the fodder as it is worth ; very often more. 
Why then do we pull fodder ? Before we learned to grow 
hay for fodder for horses and mules, we needed the fod- 
der as a rough food. 



78 ' Southern Ckoi's. 

wi-: know better now. 
But we have learned that the entire stalk is o-ooJ for 

o 

hay. We have also learned that the blades are net^ded 
to help the grain fill out. That we can not pull the fodder 
without making the grain lighter. The minute you take 
off the blades the corn ceases to fill. Hence more is lost 
in the weight of the gi'aiii than the fodder weighs if the 
fodder is picked a little green, as is often the case. 

We have learned that the entire stalk is good for hay. 
rf properly prepared stock will eat it freely and do as 
well as upon any other hay. We have learned that it is 
as cheap if not cheaper to cut and shred the stalks as 
to harvest the corn in the old way. We say we have 
learned these things. They are no longer doubtfnl, so 
many experiments have been made and such success has 
attended them that we may safely say they are practically 
settled. We do not mean to say that every one has suc- 
ceeded. Many have failed to be pleased at first, but there 
has always been some sufficient reason. The shredding 
was not properly done or the corn was damp or some such 
trouble. Cattle have been a little slow to take hold freely 
in some cases. Generally this was because the work had 
not been properly done somewhere. Shredded cornstalks, 
when well made have proven about equal to other hav. 

THE vA4:.rE. 

The stover about equals in value the grain. That is, if 
you get twenty bushels of corn you get a ton of. hay. The 
hay will sell in the market for as much as the corn. IN^ow 
is it good business to throw away one-half you make ? We 
think not. If vou have made $100 worth of corn, you 



so SouTHjmN Crops. 

have $100 worth of stalks. It is not a question of whether 
you should make these stalks. Yon were compelled to 
make them to get the corn. The real question is what will 
you do with them now that jou have made them? Will 
you use them or will you lose them? The wise man will 
use theni^ the foolish man will lose them. If you are run- 
ning a two-horse farm, you should plant at least twenty 
acres in corn and make at least twenty tons of stover, worth 
$300. This, added to tlie income of your year's work, 
will make quite a difference in the year's business. So if 
you are a good business man, you will save what you have 
made. 

Do not wait until the last day to settle this question, 
but settle it now and begin to make your arrangements 
in time. Shredders are not expensive. But if you do not 
feel able to invest in one alone, join with your neighbor 
and get one. Or see that some one in your community 
has one to travel around and shred just as they travel and 
thresh grain. 

WHEN TO CUT THE CORN. 

Wait imtil the fodder is well yellowed, a week later than 
you would to pull the fodder. Then shock from 100 t(^ 
400 stalks in a shock and tie them firmly so as to resist 
windstorms. To do this get a piece of 2x3 scantling about 
12 feet long. Put two legs abaut 3% to 4 feet long on 
one end. Kest the other end on the ground. Three feet 
from the upper end })ore an inch and a quarter auger hole. 
Make a pin four feet long to go through this. Set your 
horse where you wish the clock, put in the pin and place 
the corn iu the four anc:les. Get on the horse and have a 



Corn. 81 

plow-line with a ring tied to one end ,and throw this 
around the corn and put the rope through the ring and 
draw tight. Then with a piece of twine tie the corn 
firmly. Get down, pull out your pin, take your horse 
hy the upper end and go to the next place you Avish a 
shock. We have written often all of these directions, but 
we have many thousands of new subscribers and many 
of the old ones did not catch on last year. So we write 
them again. 

The shredder will take the ears off and shuck them and 
cut the stalks into fine hay. Some of the more expensive 
machines will shell the corn and sack it. 

WORK FOR YOUR OWN INTEREST. 

Do not let your old habits or your prejudices or your 
laziness prevent you from saving your cornstalks. You 
would not think of throwing your cottonseed away. Your 
cornstalks are worth much more than your cottonseed. 
Save them, shred them, feed them to your cattle, sell the 
cattle and make money all around. When it takes all of 
your cotton to pay your debts your cornstalks will give 
vou monev to huv the comforts of life. 



(;k()\vin(j \viip;a'i\ 



J{V W. I'. VVALKIOJt. 



I hiivc Itccii asked \>y a mniihci" of fai'iiicrs as to my 
iiiaimn- of sovviiiii,' wlical, and llicy lliink it is lii<^li timo 
\i)V (lie answer. M)' ciisloin is lo follow ('<Htoi» willi wheal 
and llie lirsl tliin^' to he (h>ne is l<> dra^- oil I he lind)s 
and hnrrs wilh a harrow or i\\".\^ with Uvo or ihi'ee 
harhe<l wires sl.relehed across it. Yon arc; now vvaidy l,o 
|)h>w np vonr stalks with a eoinnion seoot<n- plow. After 
this has heen aeeoniplislied you stai't ai'oiind the licdd mark- 
ing (dl' lainis al)out (light i'v.ot apart Uy 1x3 follovvod hy gntino 
and wheal s(!ed. 

My form n la for vvhcsat is one linndre<l pounds of cottoii- 
s(!{!d rrif^al lo iwo of I he v(!i'y host iieid phosphato that (;an be 
had, well iiii,\e(| ill ;i wa^on IxmI and applied on the land 
ln'(>adeast ahoiit r>0() poninls pei' acre. To secure a, pru'fecl; 
si and (d' wheat it is necessary lo follow the, i;-ua.no after 
appli<^d lo llie soil wilh a harrow so as lo mix in with the 
soil as the (rotlonseed meal will kill wheal when it comes 
in coiila<'l wilh il w hi le <;(U'niinatinL»". 

iVly s(um1 is always s(decled from my very best wlieat by 
ihe WHO of a (lliappcdl fan. Afler the s(dection of ihe seed 
l,Hke Vi ponnd of hhuv^lone, [)u1veiM/c w(dl, pnl inio one 
•gallon of hoiliiio- waler and poni- (»\'ev a hnshel of wheal 
an<l stir I ill ex'cry i^raiti is wcM. 

Then slir in as mncli slack lime while hot as will a<l- 
liere lo each i^'rain. 

Tli(^ above wards <dT all disease n-ei-ms and i^ives vitality 
lo Ihe plaid while yonni;-. 



VV 1 1 10 AT. 83 

Land thul will yield 1,000 pounds of col Ion per acre I 
consider well seeded with two buylicds pw acre broadcast; 
have used two jind one-half bushels per acre. 

l*low in i^i'ain willi Ihiinnn plow, lour iind ouc-linit 
incluis Lurncid, ^ood de|)tli, linishing in cenlei' of the field. 
Drag sonusthing over to smooth off for hai'vesting machine. 
Jt has IxHiii (piite a while sinc(^ I have planted any of 
my b(ist liind, too. 

To grow .')() I)ushel8 per acre it is more Lliiin lik(dy to 
lodge at matui'ity if there is much rjiin and wind. 1 have 
made as high as 50 huslujls (d' wheat on an acre. To secure 
this I put on stable maiiure, eollonsecul and my rei'(ili/<!r 
as mentione(l and sowed two and one-luilf bu ' Is of wlieat. 

I will giv(; the readei- an idea of what I hrv(^ done this 
year on my No. 2 ]i\^\^\. I made an average of 18 bushels 
of wheat ])VA' acre that is worth $1.00 per l)ushel ( ii llfty 
acres. 

One, and oiHi-hall lor»s oi" sti'jiw pei* acre I ha I is worth 
$8 per ton. Orn^ and one-lialf tons of peavine hay lliat 
is worth $1 1.00 pei* Ion, making a gi-oss value of $11). 00 pry 
«cre. ( ^ost (d' wheal s(^ed p(^r acr(^ $1.00 and (;ost of gnano 
$5.50 per acre. 

It took .'100 days' work to ])repare a?id take cani of the 
dilfereiil pi-cnhicls from shirt to finisfi, oi- six days' work 
])er acre. At 75 cents per (hay the work cost $4.50 per 
acre. 

Take (he tola! cost <d" $1)'..50 per acre fi'oni (he gross 
value $19.00 per acre, leaves $,'55.50 pei- aci-e net, an 
earning of nearly $(*. a (hiy foi- work. I have had net re- 
turns from some of my hesi lands in (he ahoN'c products 



84 SouTKEBJsr Ckops. 

of $100 per acre and net earning from a laborer of $15.00 
per day for work. 

Tlie lifty acres will be a cotton crop for three mules in 
1907 and will produce 45 bales of cotton an average year, 
fertilizers used will be four of acid phosphate to one of 
cottonseed-meal, about 400 pounds per acre. 1 will men- 
tion some of the l)enehts from sowing wheat, or some of the 
profits that will in^sult from resting lands. 

1. Your farm will grow more valuable year after year. 

2. A hired tenant working for half the crop will be 
more than glad to give you all the cottonseed to work 
fuvored lands. 

3. On vv('i '-favored lands we need not be in a rush to 
sell or trade our twenty-year-old mules, because they will 
cultivate av. 1 makc^ more than we can gather in a season. 

4. Vv> have iio excuse for plowing lands wet with 
twenty acres in cultivation for one mule. 

5. With plenty of stalk and stubble we can take care 
of the rain-fall with but few hillside ditches. 

6. Rich soil, nitrogen in the atmosphere, rains and 
time of planting will produce stalk, stubble and shade, 
making a grand store-house for plaut-food in time of need, 
with good preparation and fine cultivation. 

8. I hiivo placed an investment of $18.50 per acre 
on fifty acres of land: what will i( pny me lh(^ first year, 
11M)Y, and how long will i( conliiiuc to |)ay me using the 
sjiiiic amoiinl of f(M*filizei' with ;i slight change in the 
iiirimoniii thereafter'^ 

9. Some of the ticres will pay back $13.50 at 10 cents 
jier pound for cotton the first yeai*. Of course the richer 



Wheat. 8!S 

land Clin not make such a gain in return values, but it costs 
as much to work a poor acre as it does a good one. 

10. By upholding every proposition I have laid down, 
I do not see why all farmers can't have some valued re- 
turns for any number of years by making like investments. 

Then the disposition to move to a more fertile country 
would bo removed. 

Spalding Oounty, Ga. 



SOWIN^CJ WllFA^r. 

BY J. B. HUNNICUTT. 

'I'his is an important crop and should be put in good 
style. Wheat is a biennial plant. To get its full devel- 
opment it needs the fall of one year for root development 
and the spring of the next year for grain development. 
The latter is dependent upon the former. Tf there Jias 
been a good root development -then we may expect a good 
grain crop. But if from any cause the roots have been 
prevented from making full and strong growth then the 
grain crop is more or less damaged. 

THE BOOT BET). 

Wheat will send its roots down four and a half to five 
feet into the soil, in search of water and food, if the soil 
is in such condition that they can get through. But wheat 
roots are not able to penetrate very hard soil. Tf there 
is a hard-pan under the soil, -the roots will not be able to 
get through this and will turn aside and run on top of this 
hard-pan. Tn this condition we force a deep-rooted plant 
to become a shallow-rooted plant. This should never be 
done as it in-jures the full (lovelopinent of root growth 



86 SoUTHEHiN ( 'koi's. 

;ind cuts .short the grain crop in many ways. Just when 
the wheat needs most food it can not get it. The water 
supply is also cut short. Hence the plant is made feeble 
and liable to injury from rust and other sources. 

The preparation of land for sowing wheat should be 
made as early in the fall as ])ossible. Better still if it 
i> (lone in the summer. The hard-pan should be broken. 
Tt will often be nocessiiry to nse subsoil plows to do this. 
But it is very important that it be done. 

MAKING THE SOIL FINE. 

The plant f(jod is not soluble unless the soil is line. 
Hence every means should bo used to get it fine. As soon 
as it is broken the harrow should follow. The cutaway, 
the Acme, the drag and smoothing harrow are all needed 
for this work. One harrowing is good but two harrow- 
in gs are better and five or six are still better. 

There is a prevailing opinion that wheat grows off bet- 
ter on shallow soil. This' is a great mistake with some 
foundation. 

At this season of the year we may make the soil so 
loose that capillary action will be more or less destroyed. 
If this is done the w^heat will not grow well. The little 
tiny spongioles and hair-like feeding roots will not find 
sufficient food or water. To prevent this a heavy roller 
should be used to firm the loose soil. There is a vast 
difference between compact hard-pan, made from press- 
ing wet clay, and a firm soil hiade by pressing together 
the fine particles of a dry, pulverised soil. Tn such a 
soil the wheat readily finds food and water. When you 
have thus made a good dust bed, you are ready to sow 
wheat. 



Wheat. 87 

sowing the wheat. 

Select goodj sound, clean seed. Wash or scald or soak 
the seed in a solution of bluestone to destroy smut 
spores, etc. Then sow with a grain drill or by hand broad- 
cast just as you prefer. There is less danger of winter kill- 
ing by freezes if sown in drills and the drills left (►pen 
below the surface. The seed should not be covered more 
til an two inches. One and a half is better. 

The time for sowing varies somewhat. But in the 
larger ])art of the South, October is the best time. The 
longer time you can give the roots to develop will be that 
much advantage. September would be the time but for 
the Hessian fly. Wheat sown in October has been found 
to have double ■ the root development over that sown in 
corresponding time in November. Late sowing may some- 
times succeed but is not the rule. JSTono of the premium 
ero])s were ever made from December sowing. Sow good 
seed and sow early. 

:M AX r K I \ ( r AXD FEKTTT.IZING-. 

The ])roper time to put on all lot or stable manures is 
when breaking the land. You get them well worked in 
preparing the soil. 

The previous crop has a good deal to do with making 
good wheat crops. Cowpeas, clover and cotton are good 
crops to precede wheat. Ammonia from vegetable sources 
seems to suit wheat best. Either stable manure, if well 
^^^orked in, or cottonseed meal is very good. The greatest 
possible quantities of vegetable matter help. Tf commer- 
cial fertilizers are used, they should be put in with the seed 
or the last harrowing before seeding. Phos])hates with a 



88 Sou 111 |';kin ( 'k'ors. 

good per cent. (»f potash pay ])OKt. Aimiiuiiiu can he sup- 
plied as a top-dressing enrly in ihc s|)ring. This is better 
than using them in the fall. 

A liberal use of manure pays. From four to ten hun- 
(licil pounds ferliliz(U's inny W) used. 

rilK PROKAin.E ]il<:SULTS. 

Whcjit propei'ly sown should yield IVoni 15 to liO hushc^ls 
per aere. l^lvcM-y faruu^r should sow a Fair crop of wheat, 
it does not cost much. llome-iuade llour is pui'er and 
health iei' ami cheaper, 'i'lie land is improved. Peas 
should follow the wheat. 

If you do not wish lo keep it foi- bread, you can cut 
il foi' hay. it makes as i^ood fov<] as yon can use am] as 
clieap. (/lit just in the dongh stage, stock eat straw 
and grain and fatten on it whih^ hard at work. It is a 
^i-eat mislakc^ for farmers to buy flour. 



VViiKAT 11 AY. 



BY R. W. MILAM. 



1 hav(^ grown and cnt wheal for hay foi- the last ten 
years, and Inive never found or saved. a crop that gave 
more satisfactory results. T am a farmer with twenty 
years' experience. Wheat is the easiest raised, and most 
economical crop a Southern farmer can prodnce. Tt 
grows at a time when nothing else is growing. "From May 
5th to 20th it caw be nu->wed and saved foi- hay, cut in 
milk and dongh stages. Tt is the least trouble of any 
crop to cnt, cure and save and has more food value than 
any other hay, and stock relish it and eat it clean. Will 



Wheat. 89 

nul, colic or scour stock or cattle. We use it quite exten- 
sively in this s(3ction since its value has been discovered. 
Another advantni^e is that it enables ns to grow two crops 
each year on the same land. The land where it is grown 
can be fitted by June 1st for the succeeding crop. When 
grown for market it has proven very profitiiblcj as it comes 
at a time when hay is scarce, a month ahead of oals. 
Many nieu will say oats are profitable, bnt when they try 
the tw(,) crops side l)y side they will decide in favor of 
wheat, because it is a sure crop, benefits the land, conu's 
a month earlier, and no trouble to cure. If oats get wet 
I hey will mould; wheat will not. Stock eat the wheat up 
clean; not so with oats. Try it for yourself: ''seeing is 
believing." '. 

1 follow my wheat with peas and corn broadcast, one 
])eck each per acre. Crab-grass comes along with the corn 
and peas, which adds to the value of hay. We produce 
here from one to two tons of wheat hay per acre, and 
about the same of corn and peavine hay, and when baled 
it sells readily at fifteen to twenty dollars per ton. There 
is never a day but T sell to some one hay of my own rais- 
ing. Land that will thresh ten bushels of wheat will mab^ 
one to one and a half tons of wheat hay per acre. Our 
farmers in this section are^ fast turning their attention 
to hay and grain, so that there has not been a car of hay 
shipped to this community in more than five years. Prior 
to that time vast quantities of 'N'orthern hay were shipped 
here annually. We have an excellent hay and grass-pro- 
ducing section, as almost any grass does well. We have 
great advantage over the sections north of us, as they have 
to save about all their forage crops in July. Last year F 



90 South EixN ( 'uops. 

started my mowing machine on the 5th of May, cutting 
wheat and the different grasses grown here — viz. : wheat, 
oats, Bermuda, crowfoot, German millet, the vetches, crab- 
grass, peas and corn and sorghum — every week until frost, 
and found a home market for all. Our lands are advanc- 
ing in value and our stock shows an improved condition 
over former years. If all our Southern farmers will 
make and save a sufficiency of home supplies and just a 
little to sell, and not devote Ihoir time and energies all to 
one crop, our Sunny South will come to the front, our 
young men will not leave the farms, and our agricultural 
problem will be solved. 
Troupe County, Ga. 



SOWING OATS. 

BY J. B. HUNNICUTT. 

There is a disposition to neglect or leave off sowing 
fall oats. The excessive cold spells of the past few win- 
ters have made many decide that the risk is too great ; but 
Ave think this is a wrong conclusion. Fall sown oats are 
much heavier than spring. When they escape injni'y 
from freezing the yield is much greater. We think it 
])ays to take the risk. Recent experience shows that Avhen 
sown in open fnrrows they are not liable to be killed. By 
open fnrrows Ave mean if a drill is used the covering tools 
shonld be taken off. Enough soil Avill fall in the furrow 
to cover nearly all the oats deep enough to make them 
come up. The rains will soon come in and cover them 
deeper. But if you do not have a drill, you can lay off 
rows from 14 to 16 inches Avith a small scooter, then soav 
the seed broadcast and run a Aveeder or fine-toothed har- 
row across these furrows. This Avill leave nearly all the 
oats in the furrows. 

The lars'e tAvo-horse drills or the one-horse seed and fer- 
es 

tilizer distributor combined can be used. Or the oats 
can be soAvn broadcast and covered Avith a good harrow or 
small turner about tAvo inches deep. We have had fine 
success in this Avay. We have only lost our seed once in 
nine crops. In either case the ground should be broken 
very deep. Oats groAV very vigorously and yield heaA^y 
crops. Hence they need plenty of food and Avater. Deep 
soil helps to provide both. 



Oi3 ' S<M!'rn r;i:i\ ( 'kmh's. 

MANURING. 

We do not know any crop that pays a larger profit or 
a surer profit for heavy manuring. Any and all kinds of 
farm waste can be used to advantage upon this crop. Hav- 
ing a long time to decompose, vegetable matter may be 
freely used. Fertilizers pay well on oats used in the 
fall when sowing and as a top-dressing in the spring. 
Stable manure is best of all but when this is not conven- 
ient any and all kinds may be used. It is best to use 
potash and acid in the fall and nitrates in the spring. 
Land well prepared and manured can easily be made to 
yield 100 bushels per acre. 

Oat straw is as good :is most hay and the oats cut just 
in fho. full dough stage make the very best of all the hay 
feeds. They coutnin about nil the recpiisites for food for 
horses when plowing in hot weather and for cows in the 
dairy. Southern farmers have not learned to estimate the 
full value of good heavy fall oats. Horses and mules will 
live longer and be healthier and stronger when fed on oats 
than when fed on corn. 

WHEN AND WTTAT TO SOW. 

There is as much difference between spring and fall oats 
as between spring and fall wheat. Fall oats should be 
sown early so as to give them p^lenty of time to grow large 
and deep roots. When this is clone they will be hard to 
kill. The rools will bo deep and plentiful and the tops 
will be so advmuM^d tbat they will protect the 'roots and 
buds from freezing. Oats sowi] in the first half of Octo- 
ber rarely if ever get killed. This means in Atlanta, 



Oats. 93 

j\I ontgomer J, Jackson and on west. In l^ortli Carolina 
and Tennessee and Missouri, September would be better. 

As to the varieties, it is hard to say. The same oats 
are kno^vn by so many local names that it is confusing. 
But any good rust-proof fall oat may be so improved by 
a few years careful selection and handling, that it will 
become almost proof against winter killing. Oats can be 
trained to the liabit of resisting cold. Selecting and im- 
proving the seed is a very important matter. This should 
be done in this way: 

Select as many as you may wish for seed. Go over 
this part of the field just as they begin to change color 
and with a pair of scissors or sharp knife cut off all heads 
that are not of the right variety or otherwise objectionable. 
These can be caught in the left hand and carried in a 
sack hung on the shoulder and thus kept for food. Then 
let this plant stand until the oats are thoroughly ripe. 
This is very important. The choicest variety of winter 
oats can soon be ruined by cutting before ripe. This is 
the trouble with Texas rust-proof oat seed. 

When threshed run the seed through hand fan-mill and 
get out all the small defective grains. Seed saved in this 
way will remain pure and improve from year to year. 
The red rust-proof are larger and heavier than the black. 

Be sure to sow fall oats. If they should get killed 
your work has not ])een lost, only the seed, and the benefit 
to the land will far ovei'-balance that. 



U-l: SouTJiEKw Chops. 

now TO GKOW 0AT8— HOW TO MAKE BIG 

CKOPS AND AT THE SAME TIME 

MAKE THEM PKOFITABLY. 

BY GEO. O KELLY. 

In the first pi; ice, the best of seed is absolutely neces- 
sary, it would be a waste of time and money expended 
to try to make an extraordinarily big yield of oats with 
poor seed. Begin with choice seed, of a good variety and 
try to improve your seed. I have been more successfid 
with the Appier than any other variety of oats. 

How to prepare the land. I find that it is not neces- 
sary to break land very deep for oats, as we have all the 
moisture during the winter months that we need. Yet it 
should be broken reasonably deep. About seven or eight 
inches, with a two-horse or disc plow, is deep enough, turn- 
ing all vegetation under. If there is much vegetation, 
and the land breaks up in ciods, it should be run over with 
a cutaway harrow, otherwise n smoothiug liarrow will be 
sufficient. 

The next thing is how to fertilize. Oats are heavy feed- 
ei-s and should be fed well. Trying to economize in the 
nse of fertilizer is like trying to feed two hogs on what 
one ought to have. The result would he poor in either 
case. Oats should not only be-liberally fertilized, but 
should liavc iuimediate access to a fertilizer, containing 
(bo tlirec^ essential elements of plant food in the correct 
proportion. A good fertilizer ju'diciously used, is by far 
liie cheapest labor in the South. By so doing, we are en- 
abled to more I ban double Ihe yield of most any cro]) al a 
mere trifle of ex|)enditure, when compared to the high 



Oats. 95 

price of labor of the present day. By all meaus do your 
own mixing as none of the so-called complete fertilizers 
on the market are rich enough in nitrogen and potash. 
There would be just as much sense in prescribing the same 
medicine fur every disease of the human race as there is 
in using a fertilizer made by the same formula for every 
plant that grows. Let your formula be fixed suitably for 
the land you are going to sow ; that is if you are going to 
sow land that will yield one bale of cotton per acre, mix 
200 pounds 16 per cent, acid phosphate, 300 pounds cot- 
tonseed-meal and 50 pounds muriate of potash. On land 
that will not yield more than 250 or 300 pounds of lint, 
it would be well enough to use the following formula: 
.200 pounds 16 per cent, acid phosphate, 400 pounds cot- 
tonseed-meal and 50 pounds uniriate of potash, i^ow as 
to how much to use, never think of using less than 500 
pounds per acre. 'No doubt it would pay well to use 
1,000 pounds per acre, as by a liberal use of fertilizer 
your oats would not only make a better crop, but would 
be enabled to stand the winter months better. 

I have never found it necessary to use a top-dressing 
of nitrate of soda when they were properly fertilized at 
time of sowing. 

Of course, I sow in the open furrow, which is too well 
known to be described. I find that by this method we 
liave not only a guarantee against killing by winter freezes, 
but the yield will be much greater. This T know bv re- 
])eated experience. I have ti-ied every way I ever heard 
of and find the open furrow by far the best method, even 
if 1 knew they would not be killed by cold weather. One 
reason for using this method, is that it is a guarantee 



96 Southern Crops. 

against drciitli. In the year of 1904, I had oats sown 
in the open furrow. AA^c had a drouth that year, which 
lasted from the lirst of April until harvest time. My 
yield was fifty bushels per acre of as fine oats as you ever 
saw. This was on red stiff land that would not make 
more than 300 pounds of lint cotton per acre. 

It is strange why people will pay $1.00 per bushel for 
Western corn, when they can grow oats for less than 25 
cents per bushel. My oats cost me about 18 cents per 
bushel this year not considering the crop of hay that I 
will make after harvesting them. I made an average of 
88 bushels per acre this year. I think I had some that 
would have made 100 bushels per acre. It is true that 
this crop was made on fine land; but rotation of crops, 
and deep plowing, together wdth a liberal use of commer- 
cial fertilizers is what has brought it up to its present high 
state of cultivation, as T have never used any stable or 
barnyard manure on it. This being true, why not sow 
oats, then follow with peas, make your land rich and 
quit worrying with so much cotton. This would do more 
towards adjusting the price of cotton than anything under 
the sun. 

There are but few people ^^'ho really know the true value 
of an agricultural paper. I dxO not know just how much 
T have been benefited by readin^^it, but 1 do know^ that 
it has enabled me to build up one of the poorest farms in 
Clarke County, pay for it and live at the same 'time. 

Clarke Countv, Ga. 



Oats. 
OAT CKOP FOE 1908. 

BY THOS. G. SCOTT. 

Oct. 27, preparing land (45 acres) 15 

acres drilled without breaking) . . . .$ 33.25 

Oct. 27, seed (120 bu. at 75c.) 90.00 

Oct. 27, planting seed 11.25 

Oct. 27, fertilizers 147.00 

May 20, harvesting and shocking .... 18.40 

June 1, hauling and threshing 60.00 

Aug. 16, hauling to market 10.00 

Aug. 16, sacks • 30.00 

Aug. 16, rent of land (at $2.50 per acre) 112.50 
Aug. 16, use of tools and machines. . . . 25.00 



$537.40 
Aug. 16, to balance 914.01 



Aug. 16, by 1,940 bu. at 65i/ic . 1,355.41 

Aug. 16, by 12 tons straw at $8 per ton 96.00 

Aug. 1 $1,451.41 $1,451.41 



Comment by the Editor: 

Mr. Thomas G. Scott, of Monroe County, Ga., gives his 
oat account herewith, thinking it might be of interest to 
(jur readers. He has folh)wed this with peas and sorghum 
and handles with modern machinery. 

Mr. Scott is a man of action and of few words. He 
gets down to results. Off of 45 acres in oats he has 
$914.01 clear and his peavine and sorghmn hay still to 
7 



98 Southern Crops. 

come on; this is twenty dollars per acre; this beats 
cotton. On accoiiiil of doing snch farming Mr. Sootl de- 
clined a $1,200 job, to remain on his farm. He is now 
ranking among the l)Ost farmers in Georgia — different 
from so many who (|uit farming to take a $600 job in 
town or on the railroad. Mr. Scott's pathway has not 
been all smooth and easy. He has had to struggle for 
his success. But who ever attains any high degree of 
merit, without long-continued and manful effort? There 
is a reward for all good effort expended upon the farm — 
and how much more glorious to. see soil responding to skill 
and judgment, animals responsive to a breeder's care, 
crops improving with each year of seed selection, a king- 
dom upbuilded by one's own genius — instead of being 
another's tool, or the mere accumulation of dollars and 
cents. Mr. Scott has a high ambition as a farmer. He 
has a higher conception of our calling than a great many. 
He wants to see what our Southei-n soil can be made to 
yield, and is striving to put better methods into operation 
on his farm, than our people are accustomed to. We wish 
him the success he deserves; this he is likely to win. 
Such grit and such intelligence as he is displaying can 
not fail. 



SOWTT^O FALL OATS. THE OTHGTN OF I^HF 
OPET^ FIIRROAV MF/niOl). 



T^Y O. V. HUNN'IOII TT. 



It is now the season for us to begin our plans foi- sow- 
ing our grain crop. We want to see the larg(vst grain 
crop tlie South has ever sown aiul w(^ want to see it put 



Oats. 99 

in and manured better than any former crop. We do not 
say sow such a hirge number of acres, but we do want 
every Southern farmer to sow both wheat, and oats; we 
can grow both successfully; it only requires two things, 
put in your grain right and put on the manure, sow from 
one to ten acres in each, according to the extent of your 
farm operations. Plan to make from 20 to 40 bushels of 
wheat per acre and from 50 to 100 bushels of oats. Your 
neighbors are doing it, why can't you? 

THE OPEN FUKKOW METHOD. 

The man who originated the opeu furrow method of 
sowing oats, conferred a great blessing upon our South- 
land, and we are diie him a lasting debt of gratitude. It 
was only this summer, while attending a Farmers' Insti- 
tute, at Marietta, in Cobb County, that we learned the 
name of the originator of this method and its true history ; 
this man is named J. S. Goodwin, of Cobb County^ and 
was one of llie members of the famous Lost Mountain 
I^'ariners' Club, which did much in fostering better agri- 
cultural methods in Cobb County. Mr. Goodwin noticed 
that oats left in a depression would often come through 
the winter, while all upon a level surface would be killed ; 
so in 1870, he tried his first oats sown down in a furrow 
and left in this condition; proving successful, he reported 
the matter to our Agricultural Commissioner, Henderson, 
and by him it was given to our Experimental Station. 
Foi- the benefit of any who may not understand this 
method, it consists in ridging the land up, say in 12 to IG- 
inch ridges, and <1 rilling your oats down in the bottom of 
Ihis furrow, and leaving the land in this condition; enough 



100 • Southern Ciiors. 

dirt falling behind the drill to cover the oats. While 
over at Clemson College and conversing with Mr. J. C. 
TTarriSj one of South Carolina's successful planters, he 
told ns of a new way to sow oats. He says he likes to 
sow his oats with his own hands, and does not desire to 
do so much walking over the plowed land carrying the 
grain, so has his land ridged up and rides his horse, 
holding his basket of oats in front of his saddle, and sows 
his oats. He said he had sowed as much as 20 acres in one 
day in this way. He always puts a cover over his horse's 
ears to keep any oats from falling into them. He runs a 
weeder over the field, the way the rows are laid oif, this 
covers the oats, causes them nearly all to fall into the bot- 
tom of the furrow, and still leaves his land ridged enough 
to prevent the oats from being killed out by winter freez- 
ing. The Cole, Carmichael and Gantt Distributors will 
be found to do excellent work iu sowing oats in the open 
furrow method. 



HAY. 



BY G. F., HUNNICUTT. 



The hay crop is as old as agriculture itself. Bards 
have sung of it, and the novelists have written about ''the 
delightful odor of the new-mown hay." From pole to 
])ole it is grown, and saved to feed the farm animnls. 
Yet it seems that here in our Southland, where the nat- 
ural home of the hay crop should be, we have never fully 
awakened to its value as a crop, or to the possibilities of 
our soil in raising it, with our long season. We have been 
blinded by our one crop, cotton, and have become so nar- 
row in our farm operations that the majority of our til- 
lers of the soil are no longer farmers, but merely cotton- 
growers, and do not really know how to raise and handler 
effectively the great hay crop or any other which would 
be of so much value to us. We have lost the art of pro- 
ducing our food, so ardently have we follow^ed the pro- 
duction of cotton, as if we could live by ''clothing alone.'' 
But some are waking up, and all must awaken, until we 
Southern farmers become self-sustaining. 

We take genuine pleasure in presenting to our read- 
ers this, our "Hay Special," for many reasons. First, 
we know the farmers are rousing from their long "Kip 
Van Winkle slumber," and we want to assist them in 
every way possible to gain information, as to the best 
way to raise other crops besides cotton. Millions of 
tons of hay are annually shipped into the South, that we 
can more cheaply raise, anrl save this enormous drain 
upon our money, Onr (ii\fih, receivorl from onr cotton 



102 Soil Til I'llv'N ( 'iCOI'S. 

Ix'iK^fils IIS hill lilllo, l)OCaiis(^ w(^ liiivci lo s(ui<I il. jiwny for 
( r«)[)s wo can readily produce jil lionie. Secondly, wo 
iinhifiilly lIl<o (Jio luiy crop. From llio first,, finely piil- 
x'crizod soil jiiid snioolli siirfiico rc;i<ly lo rc^ceive tho seed, 
;;!! llir<>iii;li IIm' i^cniiiiiMl iii^- of tnillioiis of ((Midor shoots 
Ihiil s(Mid llicir smjill *rrvi)u s])cars out from the rich soil to 
('jit(di llic t!;l<wy of (ho r<dV('sliino' dews jind llie inornin<]j 
siiiisliiti(\ ii|) llir<>iii;ii IIk^ ^rovvlh of i;reei)sw;ii'(l, imlil it 
is ready lo he "hiid low," hy IIk^ niiisic of tlie niower as 
if cuts its way ihroiii;li llie siiceiile!i( sprigs and lays t-liem 
inio a smooth swath, to di-y nml lo exludo its fresh, svve<'t 
(mIoi- iijxin lh,(^ ;iir, ;is if lo wlu^t Ihe iippetitea of tho yory 
animals vvhos(^ hun^(M' it is to a|)peaso. Then into wind- 
rows, and (rocks; thenc(5 into harns to hv, fcul, or int,o tho 
haling press to ho shipped for rnarlcet ; in every stage it 
hiis its inlcM'osI and awalvons a i*(\sponsive chord in our 
iijitiire! 'l'hos(^ who wish, may continne to worship the 
cotton patcli, bnt give iis the broad, green lijiy Hcdds and 
Ihe iiK^adows — the horses, the cattle and the hogs! For it 
ljik(>s these to const itnte what we call farming. 

When we think of h My- fields, we reciill (lio hoMiitifnl 
lines of Whitlier, — 

*'Mund Miillei-, on a snnnner's day, 
Raked tlu^ meadow sweet with hiiy. 
Beneath her broad hat glowed the wojilth 
Of simple beanty and rnatiq health/' 

And onr fnncy catches a glimpse of some boaijtifnl scene 
as pictnred hy the genina of immortal Blirna, as he sings, — 

"TTow lofty, sweet Aflon, thy neighboring hills, 
h^:ir mark(M| with the conrsi^ of clonr windini»- rills; 



May. io;; 

How plensiint tliy himka and i;i'0('n vnllciyH Inflow, 
Wlicrc rank in tlio niondows tho iKiy grasses ^row." 

Thus while \v(^ live we want to grow grass for our stock, 
and graces for our character of sterling worth, and as 
we ripen for elcrnity Jind coiru^ (o the time when we mnst 
fall asleep and silently nnd i>('ii(ly he tneked nnder [lie 
greensward, of our old Molher Nntnrc^, let ns IVud that we 
can hefittingly n^poal what slioidd ('onstitiitt^ a snitahh' 
epitaph for- (^v(U"y trn(! I i INm" of IIk^ soil, — 

'^'I'ho grass renewed shall .yearly wave, 
OW our bodies l.ying in the silent gravis; 
While our souls released from onr toil and slrifc^ 
Shall wandei- through gi"(UMi valh^ys hy llie river of 
life." 



Koi.'AliK (Jia)l'S. 



I!V M Am-: W. JOII NSON. 



l^'(H*jii]:;<' scciiis ((> he llic cry now, what imisl I plant, 
ill ordci- h> make siii'c of lillin<>,- my barns and slic-ds 
with '^ronglinciss," so llial my work slock and caMlc will 
not snlTcr foi- lliis necessary feed wlien winter's cliillv 
Idasis sel in ai;ain. iMnsI I j)lanl, for past nrai;'e or plant 
for lia V '^ Tlie wise man will pi-ej)are lor holli. Pastures 
are all inipoi'tant, bnl. of what xalne wci-e tliey during that 
nii|)r(^(redenl('d wealliei' that pre\ailed dni-ing ihc early part 
(A' Fcbruai-y last'^ Who does not reni(5nd)ei' what a sioge 
il was to lake care <d' the cattle (hiring that period, and' 
what ail enormous (piantitv (d' hay it, re(piire(l In i'rcd Ihoni 
iiJitil tb(3 Hiin showed his genial i'iwv again, and the ground 
beciiimo dry enough to liiru them out. Oiu^ thing is cor- 
lain, we -.wv blessed with sinrli a catalogue^ of liay and for- 
ages ])lanls that no one iwva\ fail to secur(^ that vvbicdi hv, 
may nnpiire. I^^or summer, Berimnbi grass is the best for 
IIk^ cotton Stales, as no ainonnt of dr\' or wet weather can 
injure it, and now that seed of good germinating quality 
is on tlu; market, the labor and ('osl of obtjiining pasture 
<d' this rich and tenacious grass is gri^atly lesseiuul.. For 
winter pastnrc^ no one grass by itself slhuild he do- 
pend(Ml on, hut ralher use sevei^al varicMJes mixed, which 
will give a riclier ("(hhI and be niord^as^ting. For instance, 
orcluird, re(l toj), timothy, red clover, white clover, burr 
clover, alfalfa and Les|)edeza, all sown together on tlu^ 
sauKi hnni, would make a pasture of the richest qual- 
ity and far siijjerior to any one <d* them sown alone. The 



F()i:A(iK Cicoi'S. 10:» 

jibovo vari(;ties coiisiitulo llic most rcliMblc of llic |)(M'(Miiii;il 
grasses for tliis section. Any land that will make g'ood 
grain crops will make good grass crops if not too light or 
sandy. Grasses like heavy or tenacious soils. There are 
however, exceptions, as for instance, Johnson and Bermuda 
will grow well on light and sandy soils and also on all 
other soils. Johnson grass, for those who are not afraid 
of its cnci'oacliing hahits, will yield nior(i rich hay per 
acre than any known variety. 

There is not very nnich preparation needed foi* gi-ass- 
sowing. The land shonld he fim^ly ])nlveriz(!d, though 
not necessarily deeply hroken. Then sow the seeds and 
cover very liglitly l)y dragging a trec^-toj) hrusli over it, or 
what is better, roll it firmly. 

Sorghum is one of the best heavy fijragc plants w(^ have. 
Tt does not matter what variety, one is as good as another. 
Some varieties grow a larger stalk than others. When the 
large stalked varieties are used plant thicker and yon will 
get a small stalk and much taller, and hence the yield per 
acre will b(^ greater than with the small-stalked varieties. 
Early amber is small stalked, early orange and red top are 
large stalked. Sorghum is generally planted in drills three 
feet apart. Three or four bushels broadcasted on an acre 
and covered Avith customary harrow or bull tongue, to be 
cut with mowing-machine will make the gi-andest forage 
crop imaginable. Gray soils make the sweetest sorghum. 
Fresh, lot manure is not good for it; land enriched the 
previous year is best, otherwise use commercial fertilizers. 
Cut when the seed are in milk state. 

Teosinte is a wonderful forage plant. Tt is semi-tropi- 
cal, will not matui'c seed here, so have to depend on irn- 



106 South EKN Ckops. 

ported seed and a few that are grown in Florida. It will 
not grow until warm weather prevails, therefore must not 
be planted before the 15th of April. Two pounds will 
plant an acre. Plant similar to corn, a little closer, say 
four or five seeds every two feet. It stools out wonder- 
fully, and will grow 12 to 18 feet tall and yield 50 to 75 
tons forage per acre, rich and nutritious. Will grow on 
any rich soil. 

Millet, maize and Kaffir corn are other well-known for- 
age plants. Milo maize requires rich soil, grows very 
tall, stools amazingly, and will yield 40 to 50 tons green 
forage per acre, which when cured is a rich ''roughness.'' 
Kaffir corn is to be handled different from any other forage 
plant. When the head comes out on top, similar to sor- 
ghum, and reaches the dough state, cut it off and spread 
under shelter to dry. This can be used as feed for stock, 
o]- fowls. After this, new seed heads come out from the 
joints along the stalk, and when these are in the milk state 
cut the whole plant and shock up to cure. Chop this up, 
and when feeding it give corn and fodder properly mixed. 

Cowpeas are well-known to the Southern farmer, and 
he will plant every bushel he can get without any persua- 
sion. Besides making the best of hay they materially im- 
prove the soil. • A summer crop of cowpeas followed by a 
fall-sown crop of crimson clover, will enrich land faster 
and cheaper than any other process, and without cost, as 
the hay from each crop will more than cover the outlay. 
However, if both crops are permitted to fall and decay 
on the land the enrichment will be faster. 

Indian corn drilled at the rate of three bushels per 
acre in rows three feet apart, cut when fnlly tasseled out, 



Forage Crops. 107 

makes a very heavy yield of good forage, and while not 
as nutritious as sorghum, yet it is a good distender. 

Wheat makes a most excellent hay. Sow one and a 
half bushels per acre, cut when quite green, say when 
grains are in milk, and cure for winter use. Also feed 
green to work-stock. 

Beardless barley, a new candidate, is quite a desirable 
acquisition, and is making friends fast. This is not a 
winter plant, but must be sown in February. It is of rapid 
growth, rushing up to head soon after frosts are over, and 
as green feed or cut in the milk stage and cured for hay it 
is superb. It is off the ground in time for many other 
crops. It is especially good for horses and mules. 

Alfalfa (lucerne) should be planted in every garden 
and on every farm, as it is doubtless the richest of all 
hay crops, and is good for fowls, hogs, cattle, horses and 
all beasts of the field. So much has been written recently 
about this plant that it is not necessary for more than a 
mere mention of it here. Uncle Sam will furnish the bugs 
necessary to make it grow anywhere. So none need hesi- 
tate to plant it now. Inoculate the soil with Secretary 
Wilson's microbes, and success is secured. 

The thoughtful and thrifty housekeeper prepares many 
tempting side-dishes to work along with the regular courses, 
and so may the wide-awake farmer put in many side crops 
to help fill in when winter's long nights and stormy days 
are upon us. The most important of these side crops are 
soja beans, peanuts, or goobers, chufas, carrots, mangold- 
wurzels, Dhourra corn, sunflowers, artichokes, upland corn, 
millet, squashes, melons and pumpkins. 

Atlanta, Ga., April, 1905. 



lOS S(HrriiKK-N Ckops. 

BERMUDA, PEAVINES AND SORGHUM. 

BY CLAUDE TUCK. 

You reciuest my experience with hay. That is a sub- 
ject to which I am giving my best attention, thongh my 
experience has been short. I've had success v^^ith hay every 
year since IVe been farming. The past two years I have 
lost not over one hundred pounds. 1 sold in 1903, $865 
worth of Bermuda, and in 1904, over $1,000 worth of 
Bermuda and pea and corn hay. 

Had you published the paper read at Hopkinsville by 
Mr. Dallas, of LaGrange, — which I thought was the finest 
agricultural article I had ever heard — you would have my 
ideas about hay in general, though we differ in some partiv^- 
ulars. He believes no sorghum should be sown with peas, 
and that speckled peas were the best for hay. I have never 
sown on any other but \)oov laiul. I sow Unknov^ni peas, or 
any variety that makes vine with a tall, juicy cane. Richer 
the land the thicker should be the cane, to prevent its 
growing too large. I shall some time try speckled peas 
and early amber planted early on rich land. 

The best plau T have tried for economy of time and 
good preparation is to break land with two-horse turner, 
which gets in more groimd with same horse-pow^r than 
disk; though if had tiuie would use disk, drag a level over, 
and drill peas and corn mixed in a ^Superior) wheat drill. 
Have never succeeded in covering all seed any other way. 

I intend planting eighty acres (that grew corn and 
peas last year), in peas an<l cane in May. My plan was 
to have oats on this land, but a large cotton crop prevented 
sowing but fifteen acres, and tliey are about all killf^d, T 



Bermuda, Peavines and Sorghum. 109 

do not like to cut hay of any kind when dew is on. When 
peas are ripe we start mower and rake right behind. I 
have now under shelter enough pine pegs thirty inches 
long saved from last year to cure sixty-five acres of poor- 
land hay. Four pegs are driven up two feet apart in a 
square; a fork of hay is put on each peg so as to cover 
space at top. Then pile on till hay is about head high, 
cap over w^ell, rake down smooth, and pull from under- 
neath so that it now touches the ground. Pegs are driven 
after raking in convenient piles. If piles are too large, 
hay will mold on north side ; while if they are reasonably 
small the sun will dry through after heavy rains, and I 
believe will not mold if mixed with cane, but wall without 
cane. Richer the land, tliicker the cane. 

This hay should not be baled too soon. Last fall I 
baled mine in field rather late. Bales weighed about a 
hundred pounds. Used a heavy ^N'ancy Hanks press, made 
at Dalton, Ga. Hay brought 80 cents a hundred as fast 
as baled. Could sell any quantity for five or ten cents 
more now. Timothy gets way back when peavine and 
cane comes to town. 

One point T am anxious about. That is whether in press-- 
ing the juice out of cane will it not cause hay to mold in 
center of bales if kept several months, and whether hay 
is injured if juice causes it to mold? If the farmers of 
the South were alive to the fact that millions of dollars 
wortli of hay was shipped into Georgia each year — fouj* 
millions I believe in 1903 — and how cheaply it can bo 
raised, to say nothing of the benefit to these old red hills 
of Georgia, the cotton problem would be materially solved. 
But so long as the land of this great Southland remains in 



110 Southern Crops. 

the hands of unthrifty tenants, only cotton can and will 
be raised. Just so long, and longer still, will it pay the 
thrifty farmer who doesn't mind hitting a lick in season 
to raise cane and peas. 

My father has always told me that nothing paid on bot- 
tom land like Bermuda. I now have thirty acres of creek 
and branch bottoms in Bermuda. Hope to double that 
amount in five years. Bermuda grows best on a bottom 
about three feet above level of water, when water gets 
above that, swamp-grass and buUrush takes the place of 
Bermuda and when lower, broomsage. I sow oats in 
spring after freezes to kill sage and give Bermuda roots 
a deeper hold. Don't know how long before it will need 
to me done again. 

Mr. Dallas, of LaGrange, has a clover which he sows 
on Bermuda lands that serves a double purpose of taking 
place of crop of wee;ls that get in the way of Bermuda, 
while it also sends its roots deep, loosening up soil and 
storing nitrogen f<^r Bermuda roots. I have ten acres in 
red top clover that I think serves same purpose. I get 
a good cutting off this in May, while weeding other parts 
of meadow. I intend sowing Mr. Dallas's clover over 
other part of meadow in fall, — sowing seed over on top 
of ground without preparation. 

We cut meadow three times^ year, in May, June, and 
September. No grass should get old and hard. Never 
like to cut hay with dew on. My best results, have been 
ha<l by slnrting mower about eight in morning, running 
till one, keeping close watch and raking the. minuter it is 
cured and housing the same day before dew falls. If a 
cloud comes up on green hay T never rake it. You don't 



Beemuda, Peavines and Sorghum. Ill 



want rain to catch it in windrows, for if rain continues 
S(;veral days it is sure to ruin. Or if put in piles very 
green and continues wet long will ruin. 1 have had hay 
caught unraked and rain to continue several days. As 
soon as top of hay was dry, rakes were started to putting- 
hay in windrows, so that bottom hay could get to air and 
sunshine. It will dry very rapidly, and should be piled 
and housed immediately. If a rain is likely to come any 
minute on wilted hay, it is a good plan to put in sharp, 
well-rounded piles, and scatter same as soon as sun appears, 
and dew is off. 

Bermuda should not be baled less than a month after 
housing. Handled sooner will cause it to heat. My Ber- 
muda sells easily for a dollar a ton, less than timothy 
No. 1. 

Hope to see the day when Georgia will control her own 
hay market. We can beat the weather man curing hay if 
we will. 

Athens, Ga., April 14, 1905. 



PEA VINE HAY AS A MONEY CKOP. 

BY B. F. HANCOCK. 

I start out by saying I can make more money on pea- 
vine hay than I can on cotton, that is, counting expenses. 

In the summer of 1905 I turned eight acres of wheat 
stubble that only made twenty-eight bushels of wheat with 
two hundred pounds of guano per acre. Then di'illed in 
one bushel of speckled peas and one hundred pounds of 
guano per acre with a Hoosier grain drill, then run over 
tlie ground with a drag and made it perfectly smooth. 



112 Southern Crops. 

That year 1 cut and sold in bulk $109.80 worth of hay off 
of the eight acres. Then followed it in wheat again ; made 
ninety bushels; put in peas as before and made $175.00 
worth on the same ground. 

I am very careful to kill all the grass and weeds where 
sowing my peas, so that the grass and peas will not come 
up together and be ready to cut at the same time. 

I let at least three-fourths of the pods get ripe before 
cutting. Do not cut more at one time than you can care 
for. I cut after the dew is off; rake before night; leave 
in windrows till the next evening then haul to the barn or 
stack. I haul my hay to market from the field, for which 
I get $20.00 per ton. 

I would advise our farmers to plant less corn and cot- 
ton, prepare it better and make more. Sow your thin land 
in peas. Land that wall not make more than five or six 
hundred pounds seed cotton with two hundred pounds of 
guano per acre, will make from one to one and a half tons 
of peavine hay per acre. 

One man with a team can turn, drill, cut and house one 
acre in two days with only a boy to help him load. 

I commenced sowing aboitt the first of May and contin- 
ued until July the 10th ; sow four or five acres every time 
it rains, don't lose any time out of your crop and your 
hay is not all ready at the sanl^ time. I cut and fill my 
barn, then sell the rest; by doing so T have fat stock nnd a 
nice bank account before I commence to sell cotton. 

Sow sorghum or German millet on rich or bottom land ; 
peas will grow too large a stalk ; it will be too hard and 
woody and stock won't eat it. Peas in the Soutli are as 
clover and timothy in the T^orth and West. 



Grass. 113 

^ So let our fariiKM's be about their business; don't sit 
around the country stores and whittle on goods boxes. 
AVhen it is too wet to work in your crop, sow peas and the 
more peas the better for your land, stock, wife and chil- 
dren. Don't fail to sow because pens are high — when 
they are high is the time to have some to sell. 
Clayton County, Ga., April 9, 1907. 



GKASS CULTIVATION^— A FARMERS' INSTI- 
TUTE LECTURE. 

BY G. M. CLARK. 

I am here to talk about grass culture, not that I can 
tell you much that I have not told to you or others hereto- 
fore, except that I can confirm my previous theory about 
the cultivation of grass as a money-maker without the aid 
of yard or coarse manures for one more year. I am here 
to talk about some of the things that we feel sure of, also 
some facts that have been found through scientific research. 
It is an age of progress. There are many conditions that 
we have to accept as facts which we know little of, in fact, 
life is so short that it is impossible for us to learn very 
much. Scientific men tell us that when the earth was 
formed its original surface was rock, that with time and 
the action of the elements the surface has softened, that 
vegetation has sprung up and with it came the animal crea- 
tion, one of which is mankind. 

'Now, ladies and gentlemen, w^e know that some of this 
is true ; Ave also know that many facts have been found 
through the aid of these scientific gentlemen. I can well 
remember the first telegraph line run. I thought it a 
8 



114 RotiTHKRN Crops. 

limiilni<i; hiil soon foiiiid it a fact; sixty yc^ars later \wv, iiiut 
the earth a network of wires and wireless telegraphy 
system, also electric railways aiul a host of other improve- 
ments, all of which has been bronght about by the aid of 
science, })nt I am not here to talk about all creation, I am 
simply here to tell you a few facts that a farmer boy has 
found while working upon an abandoned New England 
farm, in grass culture. One of the important things found 
is we can make money on the farm. Sixty years ago this 
spring, 1 sowed a field to oats and timothy, used three 
bushels of oats to the acre and three pecks of timothy, and 
when the oats were cut the timothy all died. In Sep- 
tember I seeded it again to timothy and rye, rye was all 
right ; twenty-two months later cut a poor stand of timothy ; 
now I get a good stand of grass in ten months. My next 
experience was in turning sod over flat, September 1st, 
then harrow and seed to timothy, tried that several times, 
found the new grass came up all right, but in the spring 
old grass came up and killed all the new^ grass out; also 
found that old sod caused a premature drought. I will 
now tell you how to. make money in grass culture and also 
how to make money on the farm. (Higher cultivation is 
the watchword.) For eighteen y(\ai's or more T have been 
experimenting on many different kinds of grasses. My 
first fear was that no commercial compound that was in the 
market could produce the favorable,' continuous results of 
our yard or coarse manures, that no commercial fertilizers 
would continue to produce a continuously large crop. My 
fear had been strengthened by the use of Peruvian guano 
and other fish compounds in years gone by. While that 
kind of fertilizer may be of service, my experiments in 



Grass. 115 

oiii- soil h'dvv, ])rove(I flioiii to bo a fiuluro, with ilio old 
style of cultivation, as well as all other compounds tlnit 
J had then tried. But later I found that by the use of 
bone, potash and nitrate of soda, or their equivalent, with 
the new method or by the aid of intense cultivation T 
could maintain a continuous high crop standard and T am 
here to tell you of another year of my continued success. 

This year's crop is fully up to any previous year and 
you must bear in mind my field to start with, was one of 
the poorest of the poor, the surface was half-covered with 
rocks, with a filling composed of ferns, white birch bushes, 
hardback, juniper bushes, sumachs and a large variety of 
other foul vegetation. Then to complete the compound, 
all was covered with a dense covering of moss. It can be 
truthfully said of that sixteen-acre field that it was a rock- 
bound, moss-bound, brush-bound abandoned 'New England 
farm. I have a section now left to show. I know of no 
poorer farm. When the rocks were removed the surface, 
in sections, was composed of clay gravel, hard-pan, gravel 
hard-pan with a slight amount of loam, and gravel with a 
little loam. 

The clay gravel hard-pan and clay hard-pan holds water 
well. The balance, about two-thirds of the field, the water 
sup]^ly is poor. T refer to the subsoil water which on 
that and all similar land can not be supplied except by in- 
tense cultivation. * 

To commence with, I had to remove at least a thousand 
tons of rocks to the acre before I could commence to plow. 
The cost of removing these rocks and bushes from the six- 
teen-acre field was $4,750. One corner of this field is 
125 feet higher than the other. This sixteen-acre field, 



1 1(1 



Soiirii i';i{iN ( 'icor 



|»n(»r, hillside, idcky .-iiid Imsliy did iiol. ))|-<mIuc(!, jo shirl. 
willi, two liiiiidrcd pninids (d" V(',i;('ljd>lc siibsUuicc; of ovcry 
kind In tho ncic [H'.v yvuv. 'idiis yciii' 1 H^ jicrc^H of llio 
sjimc field ])i'odn(r('(l 175,(100 ixmiihIk of woli-driod liny, 
inon> (linii S7 Ions. A I $15.00 pn- j(m, (wliicli is below 
llio pr(\s(MH, pi'icH^ of liay in lliiil, section ) il, would being 
<>V(m: $ I, -')()(). 'I'lie, \\i\y eosi me jil IIk^ biii'n less lluiii $5 
|»er l(Mi, ninkiiig nel pndil o\' $S00.00 or $75.00 \\v{ pi-olil, 
per jic,i-(^ above nil eosls. Willi llies<i fiiels in Iinnd wbo will 
say (Jial we cjin no! niake money riUMuing'^ Tlie jirsl, cost 
of clnni'ing Ibis land, as before slalxMJ, was $1,750. 
'riial, money lias all been paid back willi lai'^(^ iideresl long 
ago. I bavc given yon all one (d" my grass circulars and 
a copy of tbis lecture. Wbal I w isb to do is lo sj)i'ea<I 
Ibis iTifornndion as far and wide as possible, foi- 1 am sure 
with inlense cullivalioii an<I care llial wc can double the 
l>rodnct of tlu; soil, so tlint we can make iiioTiey on Ihe farm. 
Any one wbo will send me a two cent stamp can gel this 
k!io\\le(lg(\ I will now give yon ihe results of Ibis year's 
el'op : 

b^rom my 11 '/x-JHM'o Held, wbicb is all I bave down to 
grass Ibis year, Ihe lii'st crop yield was l'J(),17*^ ])onnds, 
(he aocoiul crop, 55, (JT)!) pounds; lolal for the yeai* on IIk^ 
1 1 Vs «cros, I75,S2I? pounds, over 7',V'i tons to lh(>. acre in 
lb(^ two ero])s. The %-aer(»- f^d, in (iftecMi y(>ai-s at one 
seeding, 'J50,(;50 pounds. I tblnl; the yi(dd iii(»sl reinark- 
;ible, ihe lifhMMiMi year aflci- s(>eding, over 1 1 Ions of w(dl- 
di'i(Ml hay. Please uo( ice I hat Ibis yviw \\\vvo were in 
I he I wo crops over I I Ions. 

One word on lh(> mailer of drying my hay. The lii'st 
crop (his \v:\v had an :i\'erag(> <d' Ibree full <lays good sun- 



Okass. 117 

sliino, tlu; second c.vo\) lind (iiglit dnyH without rain, live 
(d" llioni bright sunshine, was well tcMidcjd and spread, and 
lu^aped up evcu'y nighl. This is my method of drying hay. 

In conelusion, hidic^s and gentlemen, I would say that 
if I wei'(i (o talk lo you a week about my expcu'imcMital work 
eoncerning grass culture and the tools to assist in its f)ro- 
duction the story would only begin to be told. Yon may 
III ink that all of these experiments have Ihk'u attended 
with success but J want to t(dl you that V(U'y f(uv of them 
luive. It has bcien a rough iwid rugged pathway, lilh'd 
with l)i-(^ak(;rs nil along the liru;. 

1 have tried :ill lli(^ dilVercmt kinds of grass(!s that 1 
could liu<l, singly and (•()nd)iu(Ml, with nniny of IIk^ din'ei*(Mit 
kinds t<>g(ith(!r, and have finjilly adoptful two kinds, timothy 
!ind voi] top, !is I have found lluit they work best togetluu' 
;ind would pro(lu(u> about a ton and m hnlf more hay to the 
iicre. The i-esidls hiiv(! been li(u-(!tofor(^ giverj. As to the 
luachines (o produc^t; Ihe rf^sults I have; k(;[)t a large- force 
of paltei'u lunkei-s nt work for more than 30 yc^ars making 
improves] ea»"th stirring rruichines. The circulars which 
I have just given yon show the final resnlts. .fust a few 
machines of the thousands that 1 have perfected have been 
iido|)ted. I liave thus far found only a few mncliines that 
I ]\:\V(\ or could ;id(»|)t lo produce; intf^nse (Miltivation (cheap- 
ly. Pl(\ise bear in mind what must be o})tained to get the 
liirgest nisnlts. Thus far T have only described my own 
(•ondition for the reason that the field to start with was 
:d)out :is poverty stricken as any. It cost $300 per acre 
lr> commence, that is not the case with the average farm. 

Once more and T luive done, Ihere is somefhifig in this 
intense cultivation ; In my mc^thod, with it many a farmer 



118 SouTHEKN Crops. 

can start with his hrst crop and commence to make money. 
AMiy not get out of the old rut, take a small section of 
land, give it the higher cultivation and care and commence 
making the farm pay? Why not? This is all 1 care to 
say in relation to this subject at present. You may think 
(»f many other things that you would like to inquire about, 
for that reason if you desire to ask any questions I am 
now ready to give you the fullest information possible in 
relation to this subject. 
lligganum. Conn. 



CRAB-GRASS HAY. 



BY W. L. WILLIAMSON. 



Of all the plagues sent on the Southern States, undoubt- 
edly crab-grass holds the first place, l^egro slavery, the 
Civil War and yellow fever all put together does not equal 
the curse of it. It adds two cents per pound to the cost 
of the cotton crop and deducts twenty-five per cent, from 
the total yield of cotton. It robs the land of plant food 
as no other crop does. It is actual poison to some other 
crops whicli may contend with it for a living from the 
land, such as alfalfa. It is ever present, ever ready, al- 
ways aggressive, never yielding without a hard struggle. 
It is ten times harder to destroy than Bermuda grass and 
does a thousand times the damage. It should be fought 
systematically and persistently. The national gpvernment 
should be induced to organize a fight for its extermination. 

While fighting tins pest we should use it to our advan- 
tage when it is possible to do so. Sometimes, in spite 
of efforts to keep it down, it comes on and makes a good 



SOKGHUM. 119 

yield of hay. If cut in time and properly cured the hay 
is of excellent quality. But if allowed to stand too long 
it not oi;ly ripens seed to infest the land again, but the hay 
Is of little value. 

Crab-grass should be mowed just as the first blooms ap- 
pear. If a few days longer is given there will enough 
seed ripen and drop to keep the land seeded and the qual- 
ity of hay will not be so good. ^N'early all crab-grass hay 
is made from over-ripe grass and is of inferior quality. 

Curing crab-grass hay requires close attention. It 
should be a bright green^color and possess a sweet aromatic 
odor. Bleached, sunburned hay is wcrrthless. Crab-grass 
needs close attention in curing. Sometimes when the cut- 
ting is light and the sun shines hot the rake should follow 
immediately after the mower, and curing should be don(; 
in the windrow. The windrow will probably need turn- 
ing a time or two. The thing to do is to cure it in the 
shade, but cure it. Don't go to the other extreme and put 
it into the barn uncured. When the cutting is heavy, al- 
low it to sun for a short time and use a tedder or fork to 
turn it. As soon as the hay is in condition put into cock 
or windrow and finish curing there. 

When ready for the barn it should be dry, a bright green 
color and smell good enough to cat. 

CDinmerce, Ga. 



UTILIZING OF SOKGHUM FOR HAY AND 
FODDER. 

BY A. M. SOULE. 

Of all the problems that confront the Southern farmer, 
one of the most serious is how to secure an adequate sup- 



120 8()[rTiiEiiN Ciioi's. 

ply of liiiy 111, ii in()(](!ral,(! cohI. In inany S(icl,loMS whore 
red cJovor and tirriotliy (loiii-isli nnd hliie grass is in- 
(ligeriouH to tli(3 soil this (luostioii is of minor concern, but 
!i I'Um- Jill, the area where tame grasses flourish is quite snuill, 
so thill, l,lie lijiy question is one of widespread inten^st and 
gen(!rnl (;on(;(;rii. The anion iil of hay prod need in a given 
territory measnnis its stock-ean-ying ca})ac>ity and hence 
(h't(',i-min(!s to a large (]egi'(!(; Ihe eharaet,er of ('rops that 
hi.'iy he grown successfully. It also d(!t('rmin(!,s whcither 
•A I'otation of crops is possihlc ;ind to wluit (^xlcnt soil fer- 
tility may b(i eonserved. 

Is it Jiny \vond(!i-, nndcM* thesci conditions, tlnil the hay 
<pi(;stion should assume such miissiv(5 proportions in rela- 
tion to tlie present, and future agricultural pros|)erity of 
The Sout,h. 

The one, gre;U, d(dl(!i((ney on llu^ iivernge Southern f.-irm 
is the lack of hay for wint(!i- juid sumtrier feeding, and this 
stateuKiiit, hns a genend application, Tn almost any town 
or city on a, nuirk(!t diiy fiirmers iriay \h' s(ien carrying 
fi'om one to several hales of hay home with them, for whicli 
they hjiv(^ p;iid from .$15.00 to $20.00 ji t,on. Sometimes 
this is timothy or mixed luiy, (HU'.asionally Ft,' is clovcir and 
<piit(! frc(]uent,ly shredded stover. 

Why does this y)ractice prevail? Is it because of the 
superior merit of timo1,hy hay? No; for the Intter is 
not rich in f(^ed-nuti"ients. A ton of t^imothy hay (rontains 
17*)() pounds of dry imitler, 1)7. P> f)oiinds of digc^fjtible pro- 
tein, 874.4 pounds of cnrbohydrates and 28.0 ])onnds of 
fat. Tlu^ nnt.i-itive I'atio Is vc^ry wide, being 1:1(1.2. A 
ton of (rorn stover conlains 1 100 pruinds <>f di-y matter, Im- 
pounds of digestible protein, (MS pounds of carl)oliy<lrales 



n 

ow 



SoR(niuM. 121 

and 14 poinuis of fat. From this it appears that two tons 
of shredded stovor would o(iiial a ton of timothy liay i 
feeding value. Y(;t the latter can be; produced at a 1 
cost in hirger quantity and saves th(} enormous sums now 
[)aid out for timothy and mix(Ml hay l)y Southern fai'uiors. 
'V\i() explanation of the condition of aifairs depicted is not 
hnrd to iind. The truth and th(^ whole truth is that tin; 
sidjject of hay-making has h(!C!n grievously neglected. 
Why? Ijccause the substitutes that can be; used with suc- 
(•(iss to replace hay from the tame grasses are not fully 
nppreciated. Somehow or other timolhy hay lias an im- 
aginary feeding value in the minds of farnuu's, g(MH!rjilly 
speaking, which it (h)es not possess. 

As a busin(!ss pro|)osition, the importance uwA nccc^ssity 
of good hay in abundance made at a mo<hira((i cost hns not 
hc(!ii recognized. May some of tin; trutlis brought to light 
iu this discussion be fruitful and bring forth results of 
value along hay-making lines. Without hay, horses and 
mules caTi not be (jconomienll y fe(l ; enough stock (^an not 
he inaint;iiii(Ml to supply the wnste fronn the farm; rota- 
lions, as already pointed out, must cease, and when that 
misfortune overtakes the farm the mortgage and impover- 
isluid fields soon follow in its wake. 

Good readc^r, ikwcm* forget lh;it grjiss Jitid liiiy 'ai'(\ fiiu<la- 
uiental to the development of a rational syst(un of cultiva- 
lion. Grass and hay mean soil preservjition through tin? 
destruction of gullies Jind surface ei-osion. It means iIk^ 
deepening of tlie soil so lluit fMrmiug on the svd^soil Is 
no longer necessary, and when this result is achi(!V(^d Ihe 
Mgricultural rejuvenation of the Soutli will be in sight. 
Spread the gospel of grnss and h;iy, for It is like honey 



122 SoifT (n<:RN C^rors. 

(Ii'oppiiii;' h'oiii (lie IkhicvcoiiiIk II iiiciuis ii^i'iciilt iirni 
sjilval.ioM- swift and sun;. 

All tliat |)ro(!C(les lias Uccn said by way of <ligreasion and 
lliorc'fore, seems unpardonable. Bnt the matter referred 
to is of sncb general and vital conccM-n to onr a<;i"i(Miltnr(^ 
that th(! digression can hardly be called inappropriate, un- 
der the cii'cnmstaiiecs. It is not the purpose of this ])aper 
to deal with tlu^ general subject of grasses and clovors and 
IIkmi- general adaptability to our sovcn-al soils and cliniales, 
but rather t,o call specific attention to one plant which 
can be and is to a certain extent iitilizcnl with success for 
flay and fndd(»i-. The ])lant r(d"ei'r(Ml to is fione other than 
couinioii (wei-y-dav sorghum, so well and so unfav'orably 
known to oui- stockmen. 1 use the word '^mfavoi'ably" 
advisedly, for if its value were more generally recognized 
sundy it would be uliliz(»d to a greater extent. 8orghum 
as hay and fodder bears a peculiar relation to tlu^ South. 
It is the foui'th arm of Soutlu^rn agriculture. As 1 see 
it, OUI- crops run as follows: First, cotton; second, corn; 
third, tobacco; fourth, sorghum. However, as stock hus- 
bandry, of necessity and by i'(*ason of future* cH'onomic con- 
ditions, will outrank them all, sorghum should oc(*upy a 
higher ])ositioii than the (^stinuite calls for. This will 
surely follow^ as oui- stock interests gi-ow. 

Let us now |)r<)C(nMl to consiVler sorghum as a hay and 
forage plant in gi'eatcu- detail, and so hec(^]ne familiar witli 
some of those (]U}iliti(*s which rf^couiiiuMid it foi; favorable 
consideration at the hands of th(^ farmer. Unfortunately, 
s<>rghum has not been studi(Ml as carefully by the Southern 
stations as It sluvuld have* bi^en, and the widter has tlius 
far faih^d to liiid anv authentic analvs(\s (utluu' of the cured 



SoRQHu.\r. 123 

liay or fodder. I'lie only iuforiuation available is an 
analysis of the green fodder and of silage made from it. 
The analyses of the greert fodder corn and sorglium are 
remarkably close, so that it is fair to infer that one has 
;d)out the same fe(»ding value as the other. Good sorghum 
liay or fodder shouUi be superior to corn stover in feeding 
value because of the relatively large amount of grain con- 
tained in the seed heads. Now, if sorghum hay only ap- 
proximates corn stover in digestibility, wliich is certainly 
not giving it a high rating, two tons of it would equal a ton 
of tiinothy in feeding value. The yield of timothy under 
favorable conditions would be a ton and a half per acr(3. 
Sorghum as hay or fodder will, under conditions of soil 
and climate (hat would destroy timothy, yield from thi-ee 
to six tons of cured food. Instances are on record whei'o 
seven to ten tons of cured hay have been harvested from 
an acre of ordinary red clay land, not remarkable for fer- 
tility and cultivated in an indifferent manner. Thus the 
farmer having stock to maintain can secure with compara- 
tive ease, at least twice as much nutriment from an acre 
of land in sorghum as he would obtain were the land in 
timothy. 

As already explained, the fodder is virtually equal to 
corn in feeding value, and yields of 15 to 20 tons for silo- 
ing purposes may be counted on. For silage, when prop- 
erly handled sorghum has no superior, and practical ex- 
perience would indicate that it can be fed to beef and dairv 
cattle with as great success as the best corn silage. The 
writer has seen the sorghum fodder obtained from an aero 
fed with a grain ration limited to four poujids per head 
per day to four head of 800 pound beef cattle for more 



124 Southern Crops. 

tlian 150 days. The cattle gained d'li'ing- this perio<l ilO:? 
pounds, or 173 pounds apiece. The sorghum was eaten 
with great relish because of its sweetness and succulence. 
In this instance, it was grown in drills two feet apart, cut 
and bound with the corn harvester, and cured in the field 
in large shocks. On many a farm the few cattle and 
horses kept are allowed to wander at will through the bleak 
and barren fields seeking food when five or ten acres of 
the hundreds scratched over and cultivated would have 
provided them with the best of food in abundance at a 
cost, when properly managed, not exceeding $2.50 per ton. 
What farmer can afford to pay $15.00 a ton for hay when 
he can grow such a magnificent substitute at home at so 
moderate a cost? 

These facts testify to the value of sorghum when utilized 
either green or dry, and show that it adds wonderfully to 
the stock carrying capacity of a given area of land. The 
hay or fodder is useful for feeding to almost every class 
of stock raised on the farm. When properly made and 
cnred as hay, the stalks are fine and leafy and being suc- 
culent, sweet, and low in crude fibre, the stalks are eaten 
up clean as well as the leaves. In the condition described, 
the hay is well suited to horses and mules, and will cause 
I hem to fatten quickly. Sorghum is accused of making the 
coat long and rough, and there ap^ar^ to be some foimda- 
tion to the charge. If a small amount of bran, linseed 
or cowpea hay be fed with it the difficulty will be overcome. 

Sorghum is relished by sheep and calves, but l)eing a 
corbohydrate food, it should not constitute the sole ration, 
as is often the case. These who use it in this way will 



Sorghum. I'/JT) 

not find it as satisfactory as wlioii fc<l willi a bettor u\\- 
derstanding of its limitations. 

As to the best metbods of feeding, o])inions differ. It 
should at least be fed where it can be kept dry after re- 
moval from the rick. A rack with slats in front would be 
very convenient and saves what would otherwise be a great 
waste of food. It is doubtful if it would pay to cut the 
fodder up, and certainly not the hay. The best results 
will follow when limited quantities are placed in the racks 
every day, so as to keep the hay bright and clean and in 
the most palatable condition. A handful of salt sprinkled 
over it will prove appetizing. There is no difficulty in 
getting animals to eat sorghum hay of good quality, for it 
should have a greenish brown color, attractive to the eye 
and it is so soft and pliable, yet withal possessed of such a 
delightful aroma and sweet succulence as to make it a 
most desirable morsel to the palate of the farmyard inhabi- 
tant. 

What other qualities can sorghum possess that have been 
overlooked? It will grow on land too poor to raise grass 
or hay, as the term is generally understood. This does not 
mean that it will be proper to grow it on the same land 
year after year ; far from it. In that case it would prove 
•too exhausting to the soil. Placed in a rotation of three 
to five years, the latter term preferred, it can be reli(^d 
upon to provide the necessary provender without injury 
to the land. The draft made by timothy on the fertilizing 
constituents of the land is very heavy, but the yield being 
comparatively small, it takes it much longer to remove a 
given amount of plant food from the land than a single 
crop of sorghum. Hence timothy is not regarded as hard 



1 2r> R<M! riiioKN Okops. 

(Ml tJic soil. Tlic li'iK^ l);isis of (^oinpni-isnii, liowcvor, is 
foil lid l»y (lct(M-iiiiiiiiio- ilic iota] drjifl on ilio soil ns coiii- 
(tjircd with llio fcfuliiig mitricnts y)rodn(;(!d. On lliis basis, 
sor^l'iiim is not harclor on tlio land tlmn other farm crops. 
'I'hus one; of the fiinioiis ii reunion ts against it is exploded. 
Sorglnirn is ;i li;ir(|y |)|;in(. For when dry weather comes it 
does not wilher away and die, bnt bides its time, and wben 
tli(^ rain comes it driid<s <]eeply and yields bountifnlly. 
Not so with corn, for if the I'iiin is willdield ?_! lioni-s at 
Ijisseliiii;' ;ind silkiiii;' lime the yield nniy b(; redue(;d 
one-lndf. 

Sorglinni is well ad;if)l(Ml for nrowiiii;- on old sedge fields 
:ind on lands nnsiiitc*! for its more dc^lieate cousin, corn. 
1'bns it (uiables the farmcM" to ntili/e and bring into rotn- 
lion areas not in the; best con<lilion lo commence with. 
KiidcM- these ci I'cnmstnnces, I he yield mny not b(^ birge, 
bnt liow much hotter to h;iv(^ the hiirns and sheds full of 
nttractive liny tlnin hav(^ nothing at all? The other ex- 
cellent (jn;ilities of this plant have been dwelt on at some 
h'liglh |)r('\ ionsly, ;ind so necul not he i-epe;ite<l here. 

How shjill sorghniii ho cnltivated foi" luiy? Plow llic 
h'ind deeply, in i]\(\ fiill, if possible, 8n})soil it nt lens), 
once in lhr(>e yen i-s if I he chiy is vei'v henvy. Tn the 
spring sow (he sorghnm nl llie I'nie of one nnd n hnlf to 
two bnshels per nci-(\ An ordiiva^i-y grnin <lrill will nnsw(^r 
nnd is bellei" ihnn hr(Kid<'nsl ing lo lli(*' mind <d* Ihe wril(U", 
ns Ihe s('(m1 is more exctdy dislrihnled nnd nnilV)rmly cov- 
ered. 

Aft(M- ihe sorghnm is well np, if weeds |»rov(^ ti'onble- 
some or should a crnsi foi-m, rnn ovcv the hind with j> 
weeder. II will iio( hm-l llu^ soriihimi, hiil will i^ive il n 



SoRiaiiiM. 127 

stnrl. 1 )() Jiol, sccmI (oo curly. Ahoiil, Iwo (»r IIii'cm', \v(M»ks 
aff.or corn is flu; bcsl time, tlioiiii^Ii seeding!,' nuiy bo doiio Jis 
late as 'Tuly, depending on the locality. 

When the heads begin to shoot, cnt for hay. Good 
weather is essential. Use the tedder freely to tnrn the 
stalks over before v;dving up. "Rake and eoek according 
to judgment and hanl to the barn when thoroughly cnnMl. 
Little difficulty will be experienced in handling the hay 
it the stand is thick enough to insure fine stalks which 
will dry out (juickly. 

Sorghum can be ricked in the field with great success, 
as it turns water much better than is generally supposed. 
In bad weather hay caps can be used to advantage tor cov- 
ering the small cocks as they are put up. 

Sorghum may be grown as foddoi* in di'ills from tw(» 
to three feet wide, and while the handling is diiferent the 
fodder answers every purf)Ose of the hay. Seed at the 
rate of eight to twelve y)ounds per acre, and most of the 
cultivation may be d(»ne wilh the weedei-, after whieli 
the two-horse corn cultivator can be used. When the seed 
heads are ripening cut by hand or with the corn harvester 
and place in hirge shocks securely tied to cure, arid haul 
late in the season to ihc; vicinity of tlie barn oi- feeding lot. 
Fodder has one serious disadvantage in that it can not 
be piled in mows, but must be stood on end, and thus oc- 
cupies a lot of room. It is so sappy, however, that its pal- 
atability is unsurpassed, and in fact, il coTrd)ines many of 
the most desirable qualities of sibige in lli(> form of fodder. 

Why should the Southern farmer want hay undei* these 
conditions? Why should our live stock be so often neg- 



128 South icKN (.fjoi's. 

lected during tlie winter season, and prove a source of loss 
and annoyance to the owner when they should be a source 
of joy and profit? Why are our farmers buying hay at 
$15.00 a ton when they can grow sorghum in abundance 
ou a few acres of land without ultimate injury to it ? 
These are questions for serious consideration. They af- 
ford food for thought and reflection. Do we understand 
that saving and not making wealth is our greatest prob- 
lem ? Sorghum is not a panacea for all our ills — not by any 
means, but it can and ought to be a stay and comfort, a 
source of saving and profitable investment. It can be used 
in a dozen different ways to assist in the material devel- 
opment of stock farming, soil reclamation and the general 
development of our agricultural interests. The remedies 
for ills we suifer will not of necessity be discovered as a 
result of some profound, scientific investigation, but rather 
from a studious examination and utilization of things 
which are within our reach, but which for some unknown 
reason have never been appr.eciated. 
Virginia Experiment Station. 



PLA:NrT COWPEAS. 



BY G. F. HUNNTCTTTT. 



We often tnlk of our natural advautagos, and yet these 
very best "gifts of the gods" are the very ones most ig- 
uored and least appreciated. We do not fully -apprecif^te 
health until its blessings are gone. Pure water and air 
are taken as a matter of no consequence, until the fearful 
results of their being polluted come upon us. Heaven has 
indeed been geuerous to the South. All men speak elo- 



COWPEAS. 129 

qiiently of our ''great monopoly cotton" and it is indeed 
a wondrons money-maker. Yet we have but recently seen 
our whole people groan under this very monopoly; and 
on account of receiving only half pay for its production, 
many of our farmers driven either into bankruptcy or to 
the cities. Then cotton, on account of the clean culture 
necessary to its production, is an exhaustive crop to our 
soil. In consequence, many a Southern hill, that should 
be robed in verdure, is now seamed with gullies and mil- 
lions of galled spots are left as a blot upon our landscape, to 
tell the tale. That portion of our Southland that still re- 
sponds to culture, is taxed more than a tithe to pay the 
enormous fertilizer bills we are annually forced to make, 
that we may enjoy growing our "monopoly." This is all 
our work, — it was never Heaven's plan. Nature, in her 
kindness, would have foretold such results, had her children 
been attentive to her teachings. She gave us a twdn mo- 
nopoly, and intended that the wondrous, easy-growing, 
nitrogen-gathering, soil-restoring, animal-feeding legume — 
the cowpea, should receive equally the attention devoted 
to cotton. It was her plan that the cowpea should pro- 
duce the fertility necessary to the best production of her 
sister, cotton. For over one hundred years, Ave have known 
something of the value of the cowp'^a, but we were too 
busy in our active pursuit of the fleecy staple, to give the 
cowpea the consideration it deserved, and which would 
have resulted in an untold blessing to our soil and to our- 
selves. Like the children of Israel, we have srone astray 
after false gods ; we preferred to listen to the oily talks 
of the cotton speculator and guano dealer, who were laying 
heavy tribute upon the labor of our hands, rather than to 



COWPEAS. 131 

the ''still small voice" of Nature, who would have wooed us 
to the ways of wisdom and independence. Farmers, wake 
up and go to doing. The cowpea is the easiest crop to grow 
that you can plant and one of the very best. The pea is 
fine food for man and all your farm animals. The vines 
make one of the very finest hays for all your stock; and 
the vines and the roots form one of the very finest and the 
cheapest fertilizers you can return to your soil. Our ad- 
vice is to grow peas ; feed your stock with the peas and 
vines and return the manure to your soil. We figure it in 
this way, one ton of peavine hay fed to cattle is worth, as 
food and manure, at least fifteen dollars. A farmer should 
w^ant all in any product which he raises that there is in 
it for him and hence should feed his peavines. But if 
he does not care to keep so many cattle, the peavines and 
roots, after the peas are gathered for reseeding, are worth 
seven and a half dollars per ton, as manure to the land, 
w^hen plowed under. While it is better to have the fifteen 
dollars, it is worse than folly to lose the seven and a half. 
Any farmer can grow a ton of peavines cheaper than he 
can buy a 200-pound sack of guano. We meet men every 
day, who tell us how they can tell to the very row, in their 
growing crops, where their peas were planted last year. 
We know labor is scarce, but this is all the greater reason 
for planting peas, so as to increase the yield of cotton 
and corn, upon the land you do cultivate. So, whatever 
the nature or extent of your farm operations, plant peas. 
The peas themselves are as salable as cotton. Every 
good-sized farm should have a pea thresher; and twenty- 
five or fiftv extra bushels of peas, over your demands for 
hom'^ sowing-, will brins: more than that manv dollars to 



132 Southern Ckops. 

l)iiy some needed huuseliold goods or your family a new 
suit around. If you are a stock-farmer, plant peas — if 
}ou are a cotton-farmer, plant peas — if you are a fruit- 
groiver, plant peas — if you are a trucker, plant peas — if, 
finally, you are in sympathy with the best interest of the 
Soutli and have any regard for the fertility of your soil, 
plant peas. This is a common ground, where we all can 
and should meet, and as the cowpea can be planted any- 
li !K' from the first of May to the first of August, we call 
upon all to remember to plant as many peas as possible — 
so.v them after your grain; put them in your corn; plant 
them between your trees ; sow them in your melon patches, 
and ])lant them on every available space you can find t.) 
put them upon. Then will our soil b(^ improved, our stock 
l)etter fed, our fertilizer bills reduced mu\ we will be much 
better off in every respect. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



BY W. L. WILLIAMSON. 



It is pretty g"iierally iniderstood that the various clovers, 
including alfalfa, will not succee;! in tli" Southern States, 
and repeated failun^s of nearly all those who have sov/ed 
these crops are pointed to as good evidence that they can 
not be made to groAv successfully here. 

But in spite of the general failrtre, th^ro is occasionally 
a farm or a field that the clovers grow on. 'No very sat- 
isfactory explanation has heretofore be<'n given for these 
exceptions. 

It is true that we have heard much of the theory of soil 
inoculation with the peculiar bacteria that is necessary to 



Crimson Glover. 133 

these plants, but somehow we have not come fully to un- 
derstand about this and when the '^culture" method of 
inoculation has been tried and has failed the whole thing 
has been discredited and clover growing given up again. 

It has also been claimed that lime is absolutely neces- 
sary for the thrifty growth of all clovers and especially 
alfalfa. This fallacy has been the means of fastening the 
idea on the minds of Southern farmers that these crops will 
not grow here and so they are abandoned, numy times even 
when partially successful. 

I have been noticing the work of a neighbor for several 
years, who has persisted in sowing the common red clover. 
When a sowing would fail he has gone at it again and 
again with the result that his perseverance has been re- 
warded, and he now grows as good clover as is grown any- 
where on certain fields without any danger of failure. 
His clover not only lives out its allotted two years, bnt so 
responsive to this plant has his land become that when 
the clover is allowed to make a crop of seed the field is re- 
seeded and a first-class stand of volunteer clover is the re- 
sult, whereas with most land it is difiicnlt to get a catch 
on well prepared seed-bed. 

Another neighbor has had alfalfa growing in his garden 
for 35 years. This was sown along the borders as an or- 
namental plant and therefore there were only a few of 
the plants in the garden, but they have been there all of 
the 35 years. T dug one plant out of the ground two 
years ago, the main root of which was as large as a man's 
wrist. 

Two years ago a section of land jnst outside of this 
garden" and slightly lower than the garden was sown to 



134 SOUTIIERN CltOPii. 

alfalfa, with the result that it has been a complete success 
from the start. Five cuttings were taken off of it last year 
and no doubt but this can be repeated this year and for 
many succeeding years. 

One year ago an additional section of the same land 
was seeded and it is as complete a success as was the older 
seeding. 

Pretty much the same story might be told of a chance 
stalk of melilotus that came up in the yard of the writer 
about fifteen years ago. From this chance stalk there has 
spread from year to year a volunteer crop of melilotus 
until quite a little area of the backyard has some of this 
plant growing on it all the time. Nothing has ever been 
done either to encourage or to destroy it. It has been 
allowed to take care of itself. 

The drainage from the yard passes over this bod of 
melilotus and is conducted by an open ditch around the 
lower side of the peach orchard out to the public road. 
Once or twice a year this ditch is opened out, the settlings 
being thrown with a swinging motion of the shovel and 
spread over some fifteen feet of land on lower side of 
ditch. Once in a while the ditch has been allowed to stop 
up at a bend, with the result that it overflowed when it 
rained and the water spread over a section just below 
that portion of the ditch. 

Last spring (1907) T sowed about half an acre along 
this ditch in melilotus seed, with tbe result that for a 
fifteen-foot strip along by the side of the ditch and for all 
of the overflowed section the melilotus came up a jumping 
and has been hooming ever since. On th^ balance of this 
half-acre only a few plants survived the summer and they 



Ceimson Clover. 135 

were yellow and sickly throughout the year. This year, 
however, they are looking more vigorous. 

But what has all this to do with crimson clover \ Simply 
this: It confirms my experience with an eight-acre field 
that I have been sowing in crimson clover for the past 
three years. Three years ago only a small section of the 
field was sown, which was so nearly a failure that nothing 
was done with it. One year ago last fall the entire eight 
acres was sown again to this clover but so little confidence 
did we have in it that we were afraid to risk losing the use 
of the land, so we sowed grain with it thinking to at least 
make expenses from the grain. The result was that not- 
v/ithstanding the handicap of grain, that portion of the 
field that had been sown in clover the previous year, made 
a fairly good crop, while the grain completely crowded 
out the clover on much of the field and nowhere did the 
clover amount to much except on the section sown in clover 
the previous year. 

The past fall the entire eight acres was again sown in 
clover without the handicap of a grain crop and with 
astonishing results. On that portion of the field where 
two crops of clover had growm the crop was enormous. On 
the remainder of the field it ^vas easy for a stranger to 
point out every place where no clover had ever grown 
before. The line between the land that had previously 
grown a crop and that which had not was the difference 
between a straggling, sickly growth that could not be 
mowed, and a magnificent crop making fully two tons 
cured hay per acre. 

The sowing as a whole has been a complete success and 
has given us, including about two acres that made no hay 



136 SouTHEiiN Crops. 

worth speaking of, an average of fully two tons cured hay 
per acre. 

It is, perhaps, too early yet to shout Eureka, but these 
observations seem to confirm the hope that clover can be 
made to grow in the South to a profitable degree and es- 
pecially does this apply to crimson clover. 

My belief now is that inoculation is absolutely necessary 
to success, but it is doubtful if artificial ^'cultures'' will 
sufiice to give complete success at the first trial on any but 
highly manured land, and this manure should be stable 
manure, not chemical. 

Inoculation seems to come about in two or three years 
naturally if the land is sown in clover, so that at the end 
of that time no trouble is met with in getting any of the 
legumes to thrive to a profitable extent. My own expe- 
rience has shown me that this is true of hairy vetch, melilo- 
tus and crimson clover. My neighbors' experience proves 
the same thing for common red clover and alfalfa. 

I make no effort to explain how these plants inoculate 
the land on which they grow, with bacteria that is neces- 
sary to the growth of the same crops on the same land 
in succeeding years, but with present lights before me 
I have no hesitation in recommending that these legumi- 
nous crops, and especially crimson clover, be sown in a 
small way by all farmers. No great success need be 
looked for the first year, but seed are cheap, and as the 
crop is out of the way early in May, a crop of cowpeas 
or other quick maturing crops may be grown on the land 
and come off in time to reseed the land in September, 
when the clover may be expected to pay. After that time 



Alfalfa. 137 

it is likely that no more trouble will be met with so far 
as inoculation is concerned. 

It wdll not pay, of course, to sow clover on poor land, 
even if it is inoculated; but with good land and a fair 
stock of patience and perseverance there is hope for much 
easier money than can be made growing cotton. 

Banks County. 



GKOWING ALFALFA m SOUTH CAKOLINA. 

BY W. D. GAEEISON. 

Having been a constant reader of your valuable paper 
for some time, I desire to submit in a brief and practical 
way, my experience in growing alfalfa hay for the past 
two years. 

Preparation of soil: The essential feature in growing 
alfalfa is to have a thoroughly prepared seed-bed. This 
may be done by broadcasting cowpeas on the land a few 
months before alfalfa is planted. The cowpeas, owing to 
its quick growth, Avill soon shade the land and prevent na- 
tive grasses and w^eeds from growing. Alfalfa requires 
humus and a deep soil. 

The land should be prepared by deep and thorough plow- 
ing to enable the roots to penetrate the soil. 

The land should be well pulverized by harrowing before 
the seed are. sown. Whatever treatment the land is given 
in preparation for this crop it should be such as to afford 
a deep, mellow seed-bed, as free as possible from crab-grass 
and weeds. 

Commercial fertilizers may bo applied by harrowing in 
at the time the land is being pulverized previous to seed- 



138 SoUTliEltW CuOi'S. 

ilig. It would not \h\ a(lvis;il>l(3 to iisi; barnyard miimiro 
oil land pi'ovious to s(;odin^' nlLnlfa. Wliilo the. ni;inur(! 
would improve the pliysic^al condition of IIk; soil, it would 
aid tho w(K)ds in cliokiuii,- out tlio nlfnHa. I>arnyard ma- 
nnro may l)o nppliod llic lliii-d \i\'av ;ind in v/dvAi yoar after- 
wjii'ds, l)('caus(! thci'o will I hen he h'ss <liin^(!i* of lli<; alfnlfa 
l)oin<»; cJiokod out by woods. 

S(>wino- jji(» s(M'd: ii;ivini;' |)ut (lie sood-bcd in I bo vvvy 
b(!st possible eondition, tbc nHjilfa seed sbould be sown 
ill drills, 14 to 18 inclies a|)ai"t, tlie lii-sl week in October. 
Alfjilfa sown bi-oadcjist will certaiidy prove !i complelc^ 
fiiiliire in tbis loenlily. TlKU'e uvc. two I'ensons wliy nl- 
f'nll";! sbould bo plaiile(I in October: i^'irst, b) enable Ibe 
j)bmt lo wilbshind tlu^ following winter; second, lo (Mnd)le 
il lo escape Ibe int(;nse niidsunnnei* lient ;ind <lroni;bl. 
'J'Ik^ innount of seed sbould be 'JO lo JT* pounds per aci"(\ 
Tile stand must be tbick enou_i;-b lo (Miai)l(^ Ibe crop lo 
willistand tlio weeds tbat would otberwis(3 tnk(^ possession 
of Ibe bnnl. After seedini;-, llie bind sbould be rolled, in 
order lliat tbe iilfjilfji nniy come u|) iinifornily. 

Cultivation: Cull ivnl ion is oik^ <d' llu^ essenli.-il fea- 
tures of ^rowinc^ alfnlfii. Unless jilfnlfn is ciiltiv;il(Ml wilb 
absoliile lborouii;biiess Ibe lirsl yenr it is useless lo mI tempt 
to p;row this ]dniil wbere tbe lan<l is infested witli erab- 
prnss and w(>eds. Tbis cullivatiou may ho done with a 
small sorapo for Ibe Hrsl two yenrs. Tbe Ibird year nnd 
afterwards tlie cull i\';il ion in.'iy be doiu^ witb ;i disc-bnrrow 
drawn by two borse=^. S(M Ibe barrow to run just deep 
enouii'll to deslroy Ibe w(H^ds nnd eiiltivnte tbe alfnlfn. 

ll:irv(>slin,ii-: Alf;ilf;i b;iy wIhmi rnt nt tbe pro]ier time 
nnd w(dl cur(^d, lins n fcvd inn; \.'ilne suj^erior to nnv forn£i;e 




o 
r/j 

o 

(^ 



140 Southern Crops. 

crop grown in the South. The harvesting season for this 
locality is from the middle of April until October. It 
should be cut for hay as soon as it comes into bloom, and 
if allowed to stand until full bloom the leaves will drop off. 
Feeding Value: Alfalfa hay can be fed profitably to 
all kinds of farm stock. My practical experience feeding 
this crop both green and dry for the past two years, has 
been entirely satisfactory, and I can safely recommend 
this plant to be relished by all kinds of farm stock. Last 
year I cut 6V2 tons of dry hay per acre, valued at $20.00 
per ton — $130.00. Why not reduce your cotton acreage, 
and plant a few acres of this valuable hay crop ? 

EESULTS. 

Date of planting, 1901 Yield per acre. 

Date of harvesting. Green Dry 

April IS, 1st cutting 14,705,6 3,464.3 

May 17, 2n(l cutting .12,301.8 2,969.4 

June U, 3rd cutting 9,191.0 2,403.8 

July 17, 4th cutting 6,363.0 1,838.2 

August 30, nth cutting 4,524.8 1,414.0 

October 3, 6th cutting 3,110.8 818.4 

Total for season 50,197.0 12,938.1. 

Date of Planting, 1904. ^^ ^ • 

Date of harvesting. 

April 18, 1st cutting 9,089.6 2,152.8 

May 17, 2n(l cutting 10,285.6 2,571.4 

June 15, 3rd cutting 6,697.6 2,212.6 

July 17, 4th cutting 5,980.0 1,315.6 



Alfalfa. 141 

August 30, 5tli cutting 2,393.0 897.0 

October 3, 6th cutting 1,135.2 478.1 



Total for season 35,580.0 9,627.8 

Complete fertilizer, 600 pounds per acre. 
John's Island, S. C. 



ALFALFA IN OLD VIRGHsTIA. 

BY JOSEPH E. WING iu Breeders Gazette. 
There came one day to us an order for 80 bushels of 
alfalfa seed to be sent to one man in King George Co., 
Va. This has never been known as an alfalfa growing 
country and this order rather astonished us. We feared 
there might be some mistake, or if not, that the man 
who ordered it might not understand alfalfa growing very 
well and might be sowing a crop of grievous disappoint- 
ment, most costly and disheartening. So we felt inclined 
to reason with the man, to say : ^'Hold on, go slow ; make 
it 8 bushels, not 80." But when we inquired into it we 
were more astonished than ever. The man actually knew 
vxhat he was about; he had already sown about 150 acres, 
nnd was going about it in the best manner. So we sent 
the seed. A few days later the man himself came to see 
us and to study how alfalfa thrives on Woodland Farm. 
He spent a day with us and whether he learned aught I 
do not know, but of him I learned much. This man Avith 
huge faith and energy is J. F. Jack, Los Angeles Co., 
Cal. He is a man of large affairs out there. One day 
out in that country he began thinking of the East, wonder- 
ing why advantages were not greater there than in Cali^ 



142 SOUTIIEKN Ckoi's. 

fornia, where one is near to great markets like New York 
and Washington and Philadelpliia, where freights are low 
and labor cheap and irrigation comes from the clouds and 
costs nothing for purchase or maintenance. The more he 
thought of it the more it seemed to him there must be a 
great undiscovered land dow^n this way somewhere, wdiere 
a man could make a fortune, and have fun doing it. Mr. 
Jack is a natural born creator of things. He loves to do 
things for the fun of doing them, and while a very busy 
man be found time to run down East to see if he could 
find this Eldorado. He settled down in Virginia for a 
month or two and explored. Plenty of lands he saw that 
would answer, so he thought, but at last he located in 
King George County on two old estates, Bell Grove and 
Walsingham, and bought them. On the Walsingham place, 
President Madison was born, though that might not hap- 
pen again, of course. He got about 1,500 acres. 

The land Avhen he took it was in rather poor condition, 
corn would yi(^ld about twenty bushels to the acre. 
The pastures wore co\'ered wdth briers and broomsedge. 
The land is a sort of chocolate clay, some of it sandy 
loam. He was on the Pappahannock River. The usual 
crops in that region are wheat and corn, with a little to- 
bacco. The people he found intelligent, many of them 
educated, courteous and kindly. Eirst, before he took 
hold, he went up to Washington and there in the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture he found two young raen — V. C. 
Piper and M. Schmitz. To them he mildly announced 
that he washed to sow a little alfalfa in Virginia and 
would be glad of advice. "And about how much do you 
propose sowing?" they asked. "T wish to sow 400 acres" 



Alfalfa. 143 

was his reply. An explosion followed, remonstrances, 
protests. ^^My dear Mr. Jack, think what you will do! 
Your failure will be so colossal that you will put back 
the cause of alfalfa growing in Virginia for twenty 
years !" "Yet you say that I can grow it if I go about it 
right ?" "Certainly, but to grow alfalfa in eastern Vir- 
ginia you must lime the soil and work humus to it and fer- 
tilize it and inoculate the land ; all these things are essen- 
tial." "Thesa things I am willing to do," replied Mr. 
Jack. "But consider the amount of lime you will need." 
"I am considering it. Where can we best get it ?" 

When Mr. Piper and Mr. Schmitz realized that Mr. 
Jack meant business, and was not afraid of doing the 
thing right, they rolled up their sleeves and got busy help- 
ing him. His first order for lime I think was for 400 
tons. He has not yet solved the lime question to his 
satisfaction — that is, the source of supply; it yet costs 
more than it ought, but he has made a good beginning. 
Here is about his programme. He plants crimson clover 
in his corn at time of last cultivation. This grows finely 
iind he turns it under and plants cowpeas some time after 
it. In some fields he has planted cowpeas alone. As yet he 
has not fertilized either the peas or the crimson clover — 
the one defect in his system that I can point out. The 
peas are plowed under in late July and intense cultivation 
given the ground. He plows 10 inches deep, which is 
doubtless the deepest plowing that land ever received. 
Then he puts on lime, a ton of freshly-slaked lime to the 
acre, and after the lime 400 pounds of bone-meal with 
about 53 per cent, of potash in it to the acre. Then 30 



144 Southern Ckops. 

pounds of alfalfa seed, and soil from another alfalfa field 
for inoculation. 

This was done in August. Sometimes he has used ground 
limestone unburned. lie has seen no material difference 
in results between the burned and the unburned lime. He 
gets clean, rich, splendid stands of alfalfa. To see if- he 
really needed the lime and the fertilizer he left a strip 
through a field with no lime, and another strip running at 
right angles with no fertilizer. AVhere he put lime with- 
out fertilizer he got a good stand of not very thrifty alfalfa. 
Where he put fertilizer without lime he got a very poor 
Htand. Where these strips intersected and neither lime nor 
fertilizer was put he got little or nothing. The expense of 
Iho liming, fertilization and seeding has been only about 
$15 per acre. He has secured as return about a ton to the 
cutting of alfalfa on each acre, cutting four or five times 
in a year. Mr. Jack feels that he has probably not used 
enough lime, but that its rather high cost at present makes 
it wise to use as little as will suffice, and he expects to lime 
again in a year or two. He is also prepared to fertilize 
every year, if need be. 

^'Coming from California, of course the fertilization of 
the land is a new thing to me, Mr. AVing, but I look at it 
that it will be cheaper than buying water in California, 
and so the Virginia fields have really no disadvantage in 
that way. I am keenly alive to your suggestion that suffi- 
cient lime will make alfalfa able to subdue crab-grass and 
weeds, and think with you that it is cheaper in the long 
run to put money into limo than into cultivation to sub- 
due weeds and grasses. T mean to sell the hay, perhaps in 
Baltimore or in Philadelphia, I shall proceed steadily 



Alfalfa. 145 

to sow more and more land to alfalfa till I have in about 
1,000 acres. 1 go about this thing as I would any man- 
ufacturing enterj^rise. I get expert advice, and rely upon 
it. When I learn what mj soil needs to make it grow 
alfalfa, I supply that. No doubt manure would help 
greatly, but I can not get the manure at a living price, so 
i grow^ cowpeas and crimson clover and turn them under. 
I had 400 acres of crimson clover this year, and it was a 
ii:ost lovely sight. I am doing this thiug on purely busi- 
ness principles. Why, you yourself, Mr. Wing, are in 
large measure responsible for what I have done, for I have 
studied carefully every word of yours that I could find, 
?nd thus far you have not misled me. 'Now, if it is good 
business sense to lime and till and manure and fertilize 
one acre, why is it not better business sense to lime and 
till and manure and fertilize 1,000 acres, growing alfalfa 
in a large way, economizing superintendence, using the 
best tools, economizing freights and all that? Where is 
the weak place in my logic?" 

I asked as to the market. Philadelphia and Baltimore 
use all the alfalfa hay they can get, the prices good, so 
that he hopes to net $15 at the plantation. There dairy- 
men and teamsters find alfalfa their cheap'^st and best 
forage even at large prices and of course, if he so chose, 
he could develop a great dairv there on his own place. As 
I conned over this great work of Mr. Jack's the thought 
constantly came uppermost in my head : ^^Why, after all, 
does he do this thing ? Own that it is fun, own that it will 
on rich him, Tie is already a very wealthy man, he has all 
that he can do in California ; he has a lovely home in a 
beautiful town. Why then take all this added care and 
10 



14C SouriiKKN Crops. 

distraction ii))()ii liimsclf '^" So jil Insl I vcnhircd holdly 
to ask liirn: ''Mr. Jack \vJ\ \\w, wliy do you do tliis." 

''Well, Mr. Wing, one's niotivcs nvv usually a bit mixed, 
iitc llicy not? In part it is IIk; liabit one gets of doing 
tilings. I( scfsnuHl s<> good ji cluincc! lo dovcloj) soinctliing, 
just as OIK! d(^V('lo|)s a gold mine in Nc^viula or a now val- 
ley by irrigation in ( lalifoi'uiji. 'VUvvo was an inipationco 
lliat no on(! elso would do tlie work, and tben wlu^n I had 
looke(| inlo old Virginia tli(!i'e were the negk^ctod old 
llelds ('idling lo me lo eome to lliein. I wished, Mr. Wing, 
lliiil 1 niiglit do my piii't towjird lilling men's minds^ with 
n(;w hopes, ik^v ilenls, nf!W jisj)ir;ilio!is ; llius they would 
revive within them new ener'gies, and maybe Vii'ginia once 
mor(^ might awnken (o new ;ind very vital life agnin. I like 
th(! Virginia people so much, niul sec^ ip them su(tli possibil- 
ilicis, if only tlu^y can awaken and st(!p out into this mod- 
ern, twentieth century life of ours. No, T confess T would 
not have; touched it ;il all hnd 1 not ho|)ed to lielj) tlie land 
and its peoples (irsl, of nil. Ihil, now that 1 am in the work, 
i llnd it. great, fun, and the i'e(leni|>t ion (d" those old fudds 
is not, half so diflicult as I had teai-eil it might be. I am 
dreaming all sorts of di'eains of what some day, when T 
have laid a pi'opcu" foundation in those <dd fhdds, laid it 
with lime, I will do on those |)lantat ions. I won't t(dl my 
dreams yet, but some day, if i lix'e, and lime an^l fertilizer 
and alfalfa seed co!dinu(» to work tludr magic, some day 
once more the old ])lantatIons shall be beauty spots, 
ad(u-ned with suitable buildings, adorneil with ti'ces; and 
with my neighbors up and down the river also alive to 



Kay Making and Curing. 147 

their possibilities, rebuilding tlieir own farms and making 
lulens there, with wide fields of glorious alfalfa, redolent 
of bloom; then won't you come and visit me there?" 



ITAY MAKING AND CURING. 

BY CLAUDE TUCK. 

'^'ou ask that I write you of niaking and curing hay. 
What 1 really know of hay 1 have learned in the last five 
years. Have planted peas and cane for hay only four 
}(>ars. Have some creek and branch bottom land well 
sodded ill Bermuda, about half of which grows clover. 
Clover spreads ov(ir large areas every year. 

In the spring of 1000, by advice of Mr. A. T. Dallas, of 
LaGrange, Ga., several acres up-stream were seeded in 
white English vetch (Vitia Sativa). Next winter in burn- 
ing off stubble niucli of the vetch was destroyed. However, 
l(>ts of it can be seen coming out now. Shall always cnit 
last cro]) late (as I did last year), and not have to burn 
before spring. All meadows should be cut in May to get 
rid of weeds. Not many weeds will come where clover 
and vetch grows. So a good crop of these can be cut in- 
stead of weeds, as they ripen at this time. 

Vetch or clover serves a four-fold purpose. Weeds are 
gotten rid of, and instead a crop of hay is made; and be- 
ing legumes, they gather nitrogen from air and store in 
soil for Bermuda roots to feed upon, and fourthly, heing 
deep rooters, loosen soil for Bermuda roots to follow. Ber- 
muda roots tend to come to surface when ground is allowed 
to become compact, which further causes Bermuda to be 
crowded out by broomsedge. This can be remediccl liy 



148 Southern Crops. 

putting in spring oats every few years. But planting 
vetch is much more desirable. Do not think land much 
more than three feet above water would be as profitable in 
Bermuda, on account of sedge, as would be in oats followed 
by peas and cane. 

My meadows have creek on one side and branch on 
other, and streams so regulated as to keep channels about 
three to four feet deep, that is, three to four feet 
from water surface to land surface produce from two to 
three tons per acre vetch and Bermuda yearly. Cut 
vetch in May as soon as ripe. Cut Bermuda in July 
and September. Land less than three feet above water 
level is likely to be taken by bullrush. A barn sufficient 
to hold a year's growth should be built at meadow. Time 
in harvesting is as precious as hay. It is poor business 
to rake hay before it cures, or to let go over night unraked, 
and yet it is too dangerous to leave at night in windrows 
because rain will more easily soak and spoil it. Do not 
rake till thoroughly cured, then put in house immediately. 
Never let sun burn up grass. If night catches uncured, 
put in small, sharp, rounded piles about five feet high. 
If not sufficiently cured by noon next day, scatter with 
forks and it will cure in a very short while. Vetch is 
much harder to cure than Bermuda. All hny should be 
so raked as to be classed when loading from piles and car- 
ried to separate rooms. Buyers of hay, as well as of cct- 
ton, like to class hay bad if a bad handful is found in a 
load. Would not pack Bermuda less than three weeks af- 
ter housing. 



Hay Making and Cueing. 149 

peavine and sorghum hay. 

Wishing to improve some very thin upland that lies ^velI, 
have gotten into line of raising peavine and cane hay. 
Had ninety-five acres in this crop last year, from which 
eighty tons of dry-cured hay was saved ; ten acres of which 
was a high and dry bottom that made a ton and half per 
acre. Intend planting one hundred and six acres this 
year. This land is now growing seventy acres in oats, 
six in wheat and thirty lying idle. Hope to plant the 
idle land before oats and wheat are cut. As soon as cot- 
ton and corn are planted will commence removing rocks 
and cleaning this land thoroughly of all trash before srart- 
ing plows. Last year I turned land with two-horse ])iows 
and smoothed land with drag made of four two-l^y -eights 
ten feet long nailed together like weatherboards. Put in 
peas and cane with drill. Then ran smoother over again 
to fix land for mower and rake, and make yjeas sprout 
quickly. 

]N'ever plant peas except when ground has plenty moip- 
ture. Will try turning with double and triple disc plows 
this season, the land now growing grain, which was turned 
with double disc last fall. Hope land will be loose enough. 
The main point in using large turners is to get rid of all 
grass and weeds. 

I plant Unknown or Red Ripper peas, mixed w^ith 
Orange cane, four to one ; set drill at one bushel on each 
side. If Whippoorwills are sown Early Amber cane should 
be used. These must be cut in August or first of September, 
which is rainy season — pretty risky to handle in large 
quantities ; others come on after equinov. Our success 



150 Southern Okops. .| 

at saving this hay is due to a method my father read in a 
little paper published by Mr. Hull of the University of 
Georgia, a few years ago. This is a simpler method and 
not costly. It really reduces expense of handling hay at 
that season of year. But if understood should revolution- 
ize the whole country. Everybody knows that something 
must be done to reclaim our worn-out lands and everybody 
knows that the cowpea can do it. But very few can raise 
the cowpea at profit. The method is to drive three or four 
pine sticks about size of stove wood, thirty inches long 
firmly in ground — four sticks in square or three in triangle 
according to size of pile. Will use some pegs next season 
that were used last four years. Small piles are bes^. 
I^sed last season three pegs driven about two and a half 
foei apart — according to amount of hay — in equilateral 
ti'i angle. 

Start rake only when hay is dry of dew and rain. Can 
rako directly behind mower, but find it handles easier to 
keep a day behind mower. 

Kake hay in windrows, "then with rake draw in semi-cir- 
cles to avoid tangling— enough hay for a pile. Drive pegs 
(within semi-circles), firmly in ground. Keep in mind 
while raking to avoid low places for piles. Two m^a 
should work at each pile, one on each side, so as to keep 
] ile balanced and hay crossed, which prevents pile from 
tilting. Fill in center between pegs, putting hay on 
ground, but let no hav straddle pegs. Always ke^p outside 
of pegs in sight. When piled to top of pegs, spread out 
over pegs and gradually come to a point at top. Keep loose 
hay raked off, leavinp- all ends hanging downward. Pile 
about five feet high in shape of cone ; should a peg or pile 



Hay Making and Curing. 151 

tilt, water will enter and hay will rot. Too large piles 
will not drv out quick enough to avoid moulding. If weeds 
or grass are in pile, whole pile will likely rot. 

I hauled eight tons from field to barn December 20, 
packed in February and sold for twenty dollars per ton. 
This was cut and piled in -October. 

Peas should be allowed to grow as long as possible to 
enrich land. Would start mower when pods were well 
turned and leaves nearly ripe. By this method leaves are 
saved also. The riper the hay is, the easier to handle. 
The object of putting cane with peas is to hold up vines, 
making them easier to mow and handle, and to ventilate 
piles. Would not pack hay containing large cane ; neither 
would pack any less than two months after cutting. Like 
to delay packing as long as possible. My plan of diver- 
sifying is to follow Marlboro corn with oats and wheat. 
Planting after grain peas and cane same year. As soon 
as peas and cane are gotten off land, turn in fall for cot- 
ton. Follow cotton Avith corn again. Thus a three-year 
rotation which in a few years will make as much profit on 
cotton as had the whole acreage been kept in cotton, leaving 
corn, oats, wheat and .hay besides. I intend to work this 
plan whether cotton sells for seven or seventeen cents. 

In your reference to my hay business in former edition 
of Cultivator you overstated the amount of hay sold of 
1906 crop. The correct amount is twenty-one hundred 
and ninety dollars; of 1907 crop hope to sell $2,700 aftei 
feeding tw^enty-one head of stock. 

Clarke County, Ga. 



152 SouTiiEJiN Crops. 

WIlKA'r AND VICrCJII MAY. 

BY G. 1*'. JllJNJNKJirrT. 

In i-(!ji(liii^' llic, (Jiii/i"i VA'i'oit this \vinl(!i', I wiis ^hid to 
sec so many IcdtcrH of iiKjniry about vvinl(3r paHturcs and 
foodHiun's for cnlilc. It certainly makes ^Tcatly ngiiinst 
llic ii|)|)(';iriinc(' of our Soiitliorn fni-ins (o S(!C3 lli<di- hai'i-cji 
lo(>k llii-oii<i,h winlcr. 'I'Ihm'c is not a vc^stige to \h\ i^cow on 
llic m;ijoi'iiy of farms, ol:' jinytliing gn^cn. I wisli all 
who a I'd inl('i"('Ht(Ml in grasses or stock would s('(; Pi'<d". 
K'liodcs' ii(dd of oats and winter v(^t('li, and crimson clover 
al the Stat(! N(»rnud School. P>oth the Ix^auty and llie 
ciioianous amount of food Ik; will gc^t will a])|)(!al to any 
ol)s(U'V(u". 1I(^ will get three or four tons per acre, and then 
will plant tin; land in soi-ghum jind |)eas and get perhaps 
moi-(^ Uh)(], all from a jtoor, rod hillside. The vetch was 
s(twii with the oals. 1 1 needs oats or wheat to hold it up. 
1 am going to sow mine in wheat this winlei'. Oats get 
kille(l (Hit so much wilh us. P.rof. A. Tvhodes would have 
made even iiKU'e hut for llic fact thai his oals W(U'(^ thinned 
out hy I Ik; winter. We have seen pretty fields of lucerne 
and grain, hut I his held wilh first Imlf of green oats and 
hlue vetch, and olhei- half in rich re(l erimson clover was 
IIk; prettiest sighl I cvci- saw, wIku-c iilility and feed wei'o 
Ihe ohjects ])hinted for. Five acres planted ihus and fol- 
lowed hy pc^as and sorghum on i-icli land would yi<'hl 
enough to feed twenty head of callle and five head of 
horses the year round, ami make ihe farmer feel raised 
leu degr(>(>s in his own eslinialion, and make his family 
think more <d' him and he a great ohject lesson lo all his 
ncighhora. 



Wheat and Vetch Hay. 153 

Hairj vetch is a winter growth. It should be sown in 
September. Can be sown with wheat or oats for haj. It 
does well alone except that it needs something to hold it 
up, as the stem is very slender. The English vetch grows 
taller and makes a larger yield of hay with wheat or oats. 

The hairy vetch does well if sown on Bermuda ; it makes 
a perpetual pasture. Twelve to fifteen pounds per acre 
are enough seed. Vetch does not come again from tlie 
roots, but if let grow^ for hay plenty of seed will mature 
and fall out to reseed the groimd from year to year. If 
pastured, stock should be taken off first of May. Seed 
enough will then ripen to reseed for another crop. Vetch 
dies down about the first of June. If sown with Bermuda 
it makes a perpetual pasture, as stated above. The vetch 
is growing in winter when the Bermuda is resting, and 
resting in summer when the Bermuda is growing. These* 
crops seem to manure each other. The Bermuda furnishes 
just the food the vetch needs and thp vetch what the Ber- 
muda needs. Both grow from year to year, and at the 
same time greatly improve th^ soil. Vetch will only come 
in the early fall and hence is no trouble to get rid of. 
Sometimes it is rather slow to get a good start first year, 
but after that growls well. 



THE VETCHES. 
VICIA SATIVA AT^D VICIA VILLOSA. 

BY JAMES T. CtARDTNEK. 

The number of questions ask^d me, and inquiries made 
in the agricultural journals recently about the vetches, 



154 Southern Ckops. 

show a lively and commendable interest among the farmers 
of the Sonth, in these valuable forage plants. As there 
never has been to my knowledge any article on this subject 
of a satisfactory nature, I will give in part my experience 
as a grower and dealer in this Imj. If this will be of 
benefit to even a few, I will not regret the time taken to 
write it. 

The Moore farm (Augusta, Ga.) of which I am man- 
ager, was the pioneer in introducing vetch 25 years or 
more ago, and ever since then has continued to groAV it, 
making a specialty of vetch hay, selling every year thou- 

nds of bales. This industry with a modest beginning 
of a few acres has grown no .v to several thousand acres on 
ihe grass farms around Augusta, both in Georgia and 
South Carolina. Our farmers are now recognizing tlio 
great improvement in the soil after a few crops of vetch, 
to say nothing of the profit over other grasses in the crop 
when made into firs'-(^lass hny, since usually the price paid 
:'or vetch hay is from $2.00 to $4.00 per ton more than 
the Johnson grass, and other native hays. 

There are 42 known and classified varieties of vetch, but 
for our purpose only three need be considered, namely: 
Vicia angustifolia, locally called our Augusta native vetch, 
Vicia Sativa, known sometimes as English and sometimes 
as winter vetch, and Vicia villosa, known as hairy or sand 
vetch. It is impossible, however, to obtain by purchase 
commercially, the seed of angustifolia, and as a vetch it is 
fast losing out in competition with the heavier yielding 
(by two or three times) and more profitable sativa ; we 
therefore, need not consider it. 



Wheat and Vetch Hay. 155 

Vicia sativa is imported (as is also vicia villosa) bv tliG 
United States seed trade from Russia, from which coun- 
try we obtain our best seed. The States of Oregon and 
Washington, in the United States are extensive growers 
of sativa for both hay and seed purposes, but the high 
trans-continental freight rates keep this nothwestern seed 
wholly out of the Southern and Eastern markets. This 
northwestern-States vetch, too, is largely mixed with 
wheat, Avhich can not be separated from the vetch by the 
fan mills. The hay produced from the vetches in thes3 
two northwestern States ranks high as a forage for all ani- 
mals. 

V» hile most of our legumes are summer legumes, vetchet^ 
on the contrary are winter legumes. This gives them spe- 
cial value. Vetch legumes adding nitrogen to the soil in 
proportion to the crop grown and as per congenial 
location, add immensely to its permanent fertility, and be- 
ing harvested early enough in the spring to follow with 
cow^peas, two crops of legumes can be grown on the same 
land in the twelve months. The vetch and peas, I know, 
will be of more benefit to our soil than is a crop of clover 
grown on the ground for the same length of time in the 
North. In fact, if all conditions are favorable the tonnage 
of hay from the vetch and peavine crops will greatly ex- 
ceed the clover; besides, the feeding value is greater — in- 
deed the net amount in dollars and cents Avill total more 
by half to two-thirds than the two clover crops. It is a 
common saying with us that if you make your land rich 
enough for a maximum crop of vetch, the vetch will keep 
it permanently rich enough for everything else. 



156 ■ Southern Crops. 

The soil best suited to its growth is one well drained. A 
loamy one is, of course, best though. Soil with some clay 
is preferred to an excess of sand. Sandy soils have pro- 
duced vetch well. Land that will make the best pea crops 
w^ill also make vetch, though the first crop with one inocu- 
lation will not be nearly so much as the second crop. As 
a fertilizer we use 300 pounds per acre of 10 by 4 phos- 
phate and potash as top-dresser in March. 

On the Moore farm we plant 45 pounds of vicia sativa 
with 2 quarts of recleaned oats per acre — the latter to help 
hold the former up ; putting both in with disc grain drill 
after first going over the land two ways with disc harrow — 
and more if on hard sod fields, getting in the seeds about 
one inch deep. For the vicia villosa we use 25 pounds of 
seed per acre and two quarts of oats. After the seeding 
is all over, a careful man on horseback sows two quarts of 
late crimson clover (put cotton in the horse's ears to keep 
seeds out). If the seasons are favorable this crop in April 
and early May will be the most beautiful one ever seen, 
with its wealth of purple, pink and crimson blooms, and 
its many shades of green. It is truly a delight to the eye, 
standing up from throe to four feet high — many of the 
stalks of the villosa F have found by measure to be nine 
feet long. The average of our fields is one ton per acre, 
though many will make twice that amount. The hay of 
the vicia sativa as a rule is preferred to villosa, for the 
reason that it dons not grow in such tangled masses, and 
it is therefore easier to cure. The average farmer, there- 
fore, from sativa will make a better grade of hay. The 
sativa seed, too, is about half as costly. Some growers 
here plant 75 or 100 bushels sativa and no villosa. I 



Wheat and Vetch Hay. 157 

would advise, however, planting both varieties if grown 
tor hay, as the villosa ripens two weeks later than sativa, 
giving time to save one crop before the other is ripe. Bo»h 
the vetches tiller or stool, the villosa running from 5 to 
12 per seed and the sativa perhaps from 3 or 4 to 6. 

Our Augusta vetch fields are however, by no means all 
planted with oat and clover mixture, the majority of the 
growers, in fact, sowing alone in about the same quanti- 
ties as above, depending on the native grasses, such as 
Canary, Johnson and Bermuda, to fill up all the vacant 
spaces. 

The villosa I regard as slightly hardier, Avithstanding 
cold perhaps year in and year out in all latitudes, some- 
what better than the sativa. It is a much slower grower 
to start with, but after the warm days of March, it makes 
rapid strides and soon overtakes the more steady and pro- 
gressive sativa. 

The time of planting in this latitude is from September 
to December for tlie sativa — villosa seeding may continue 
two weeks longer. We try, however, to finish our planting 
by I^ovember 1st. 

Great care should be used in buying seed in these days of 
universal adulteration. Old seed that have' lost their 
power of germination can be bought for a song and when 
washed and cleaned and mixed with the fresh seed, none 
but th^ foxy manipulator could toll it })y looking at them. 
Buy of some one who is alert and on to these tricks of 
the trade, who is reliable morally and financially, and you 
will get the best that can be had. 

As a siloing or freshly green cnt crop, both the sativa 
and villosa are used about Angusta by the dairymen. My 



15$ Southern C 



OUTHERN UROPS. 



observation is that as regards dairy cows, nothing changes 
milk and butter on farms in this vicinity more quickly 
both as regards quality and quantity of milk, than the 
combination crops as used here by our dairymen ; from a 
poor flow of washed out watery milk, the vetch will give 
it a rich yellow cream and solid good tasting milk. For 
'sows with spring pigs it is equally good; you can see the 
little fellows actually grow. 

Some dairymen plant per acre 1 bushel of beardless 
barley, and y^ brshel of one of the vetches, and one 
bushel of rye ; some decrease these amounts. If planted 
quite early in the fall, the beardless barley part of the 
crop can be cut within 60 or 80 days from planting. Then 
in early spring the rye and vetch are cut together and 
this cutting can be follow^ed by two or three similar cut- 
tings later in the season. If this combination, however, 
is sown late in the winter the throe forage crops can be 
cut all at the same time. Vetches too, will do well sown 
either with beardless barley alone or with rye. The 
vetches and especially the villosa furnish a wealth of 
blooms in the spring. During the vetch season bees will 
deposit about Augusta two or three times the amount of 
honey that they will at other seasons. The honey is white 
rnd of especially good flavor. \ 

As to vetch hay's feeding valuepwe all know the value of 
wheat bran as a feed; now, the analysis of vetch is prac- 
tically the same, as it is very rich in protein. 

Referring to an earlier part of this letter, let me add 
that late crimson clover should always be sown on hard 
ground ; unlike any other plant of my acquaintance il 
prefers to make its own bed and likes that bed hard. 



160 Southern Crops. 

In the northwest sativa is pastured in large amounts 
by cattle from mid-winter till spring; and then it is al- 
lowed to grow out for hay cutting. It is also cut green 
when a foot high, and therefore successively cut till ripen- 
ing time. 

Sativa and villosa do not reseed themselves here when 
cut for hay — the pods not being sufficiently ripe to shat- 
ter the seeds to the ground in the hay cutting. Seeds 
however, when ripening on the plants and falling to the 
ground will re-seed the ground for another year. In all of 
Augusta territory there is now growing wild, and increas- 
ing in amount each year (by re-seeding) just as in Japan 
clover, some half dozen or more varieties of vetches. 

The greatest mistake that the Southern farmer makes 
in his management of the soil is, when he allows his soil 
to remain bare of crops throughout the winter, and lets 
the rain wash through the soil and rob it of fertility, 
which under the general conditions of relying on commer- 
cial elements to restore, makes it bad, yea, very bad busi- 
ness, unprofitable in the extreme ; when by using a winter 
crop of small grain with the vetch mixed with it, he would 
not only save the fertility already there, but with the vetch 
he could so increase the fertility, as far as nitrogen is 
concerned, that he could grow btimper crops without buy- 
ing an ounce from the fertilizer company, and at the 
same time be adding the much needed humus to the soil. 

I think that the votcli plant is destined to become the 
savior of our long mismanaged soils, and that ultimately 
it will make the soils of our Sunny Southland become as 
fertile and productive as any on earth. 



Wheat and Vetch Hay. 161 

Assording to experiment station reports the nitrogen 
left and stored in the soil for future crops is greater even 
from the vetches than from the cowpea. 

A good series of crops two of them being legumes, and 
all Avithin the twelve-month is to plant early in Septem- 
ber vetch and beardless barley together, graze or cut the 
barley in the winter, cut the vetch, say in April, and then 
plant down cowpeas for summer hay cutting. The added 
value to any soil of these two legumes with or without bar- 
ley should be in the one year, $6.00 or $8.00 per acre. 

Richmond County, Ga. 



U 



HOW TO GROW PEANUTS— THEIE VALUE AS A 

FOOD. 



BY J. L. REYNOLDS. 



To commence, a sandy loam, neither too dry or sandy, 
but light and porous, makes the best marketable peanuts ; 
first, because it is nearer the natural color of the peanut 
shells and th^ trade prefers a pretty, light-colored peanut ; 
of course most any land that will grow corn will grow pea- 
nuts. Keep your land in a friable condition and a suffi- 
ciency of lime in the soil. The yield is greater in clay 
soils, but the stain can not be eradicated and therefore they 
sell from one-half to one cent a pound less than the pretty 
peanut grown in lighter lands. If the land or soil is not 
naturally calcareous, it must be limed in order to make the 
plant fruit properly and for its mechanical effects upon 
the soil. Potash and phosphoric acid are equally as neces- 
sary, using kainit as a basis of potash and fine ground 
phosphatic slag for the phosphoric acid. It is best to put 
in the lime and other fertilizers early in the season; now 
is a good time — of course you can distribute when planting 
or afterwards but with less favorable results. Be sure 
to finely comminute by burning the lime before applying. 
Thoroughly burnt oyster shells, common limestone or marl 
will answer the puprose of the planter — generally 25 to 
80 bushels lime or 90 to 140 bushels marl are, safe, but 
on thin land I would not advise using more ; a safer plan 
is to make several applications of it. Manure compost, 
woods, earth, etc., are fine and by continued applications 
you can increase the lime or marl provided your land has 



Peanuts. 163 

enough vegetable matter to subdne its caustic effects. Most 
of the peanut soil is deficient in humus and beginners 
must be careful and use small quantities of lime until 
they have supplied the deficient matter. 

Fertilizers for peanuts: cottonseed-meal 300 lbs., cot- 
ton-hull ashes 130 lbs., or acid phos. 80 lbs., cottonseed- 
meal 300 lbs., kainit 240 lbs., or barnyard manure 4,000 
lbs., cottonseed-meal 150 lbs., kainit 100 lbs., acid phos. 50 
lbs. ; or odorless phos. (phosphatic slag), 120 lbs., cotton- 
seed-meal, 300 lbs., kainit 240 lbs. Do not plant the 
same soil twice, or not more than twice, as after two years 
the vines will shed their leaves before maturity and the 
forage or hay part of the crop is lost. You can change 
from peanuts to corn and vice versa each alternate season. 
AVhen the land is properly fertilized it will increase in 
production annually, but otherwise and especially if con- 
tinued in peanuts year after year will rapidly deteriorate. 
I would suggest cowpeas or soja beans, peanuts, sweet 
potatoes, et cetera. Sow rye or oats after peanuts, then 
cowpeas after the oats. Continue to fertilize each crop 
until it no longer responds profitably to fertilizers. 

Break up land with ordinary turn plow as early in 
spring as land can be worked or gets into condition, then 
use a harrow and smoothing board or roller so as to leave 
a level surface. Get out all roots, stones and cornstalk 
roots. Four to six inches is deep enough to plow. Lay 
off rows three feet apart and from twelve to fifteen inches 
in. drill. I plant one seed to hill but many plant two. 
Cover 11/2 to 2 inches deep, a hoo or your foot is the best 
to cover them with, but I use a planter, or drop by hand 



164 Southern Crops. 



and cover with a double-foot plow. The season to plant 
i>s after the last killing frost up to July 1. 

The cultivation depends upon the land. If it is prop- 
erly harrowed and thoroughly porous and free from all 
weeds little cultivation is necessary; but keep clean — do 
not allow any grass to grow in them. Use cultivator or 
plow at the proper time and avoid th^ expensive hoeing. 
Two Aveeks after planting go over the field vith a small 
turn plow, throwing the soil over the hills or drills, or 
where the seed are covered throwing the second furrow 
over them and then put on a board a day or so later and 
knock off the top of this ridge. This will kill your first crop 
of grass with little, if any, injury to the plants, or if 
preferable, bar off the soil from the vines, as some farmers 
bar off cotton before chopping, then in a few days send the 
harrow and hoes through the field leveling the ridge in the 
balk and scraping off the narrow ridge between the plants, 
as in cotton culture; after this, use a double shovel about 
every ten days to two weeks, first running plow deep, then 
shallow, imtil ^^laid by." Do not disturb the runners, get 
farther and farther away from them. Once you let them 
get grassy you are in a terrible fix. You should get from 
50 to 100 bushels per acre. Two bushels nuts in pod will 
plant one acre. Shelling them is a difficult job and very 
tiresome, but the yield will be twice as good on shelled 
against unshelled and the chances much better for securing 
a stand ; reject all but good plump sound kernels. The 
Spanish peanut has a small kernel of the finest quality and 
is in greater demand by confectioners and is worth several 
cents per pound more than other sholled stock. The varie- 
ties are respectively the Virginia, running ar).d bunch j the 



Peanuts. 165 

Tennessee and Georgia, white and red ; the North Carolina 
and the Spanish. Of all peanuts the Spanish is best for 
any and all purposes. Comparison of the nutritive value 
of the 12 leading and principal foods : 

Nutritive units Cost per 1,000 
per lb. units in cts. 

Skim milk 98.2 10.4 

Skim milk cheese 870.0 11.0 

Full milk 145.5 11.5 

Bacon 1257.7 15.5 

Butter 1186.3 20.4 

Veal 525.9 22.2 

Beef 530.9 26.0 

Peas '.*. 778.6 4.2 

Rye flour 603.6 6.0 

Eice 534.6 10.0 

Peanut meal 1425.0 3.0 

This table was made by Prof. Koenig, based on the price 
in Germany, but for our purpose they show the same 
relative value. Prom this table it will be readily seen 
that peaaut meal is not only the most nutritious, but by 
far the cheapest of this whole list of 12 foods. 

Aiken County, S. C. 



HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE SWEET 
POTATOES. 

BY J. L. SIMS. 

At your request I will tell you how I prepare for, plant 
and cultivate sweet potatoes. I am not an expert at any- 
thing, but am reasonably successful in some things. Hop- 
ing I have disabused your mind of the idea that I 
am going to tell how to raise more potatoes than other peo- 
ple, or do it cheaper than other people, I will proceed to 
just give facts as I do them, and suppose other people do 
the same way or similarly. 

The first thing for me in the spring of the year is to 
select my plot of land that I want to plant and break it up 
as deep as I can with a one-horse plow, though a two-horse 
plow would be better. Then I select a place for my pota- 
toes, dig the bed out about ten or twelve inches deep and 
four feet wide, some twenty-five or thirty feet long, and 
fill that with stable manure, then tramp with my feet all 
over and put on a layer of good rich dirt and let it lie a 
week or ten days ; then I select my seed potatoes. I plant 
pumpkin yams or the Patisaw (not much difference). I 
want the small potatoes, from the size of my thumb to 
the size of my wrist. I most always bed from twelve to 
fifteen bushels to plant two or three acres, so T. can get 
slips enough for early planting. After the 12th or 15th 
of March, I bed, spreading them out just so they touch ; 
then I cover with some surface dirt T get out of the woods, 
if I don't have something of the kind in the garden, just 
so it won't bake on the potatoes. The slips will be up in 



Sweet Potatoes. 167 

April and I get my ground planted out and finished in 
May. I break my land again in April, run off my rows 
3 1/2 feet and run them out with a turn plow with two 
furrows as deep as we can get them ; then we haul manure 
and put in every row; then take the guano distributor and 
put down my guano with the manure about 600 pounds 
to 1,200 pounds per acre. The better the ground, the 
more manure and guano I use, and I then take my cul- 
tivator and straddle the manure and wait for my slips. 
When the slips and the weather are right, I take my turn- 
plow and throw two furrows on the manure and stick in 
my slips in fresh-plowed land, and if we have a season in 
the ground they will live. I put the slips in from 12 to 
15 inches in the row and when they begin to grow a little, 
I hoe them, then run through the rows with a sweep or 
cultivator and wait a few days. The vines begin to cross 
the row and I hoe them and turn the vines and bed them 
up with my turn-plow. I prefer a high, round bed. They 
do the rest. In the fall I dig and market them and try 
to keep the money, for the potato won't keep for me. I 
wish they would, so I will step down and let the other 
fellow tell how to keep them. 
Fulton Coimty, Ga. 



KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. 

BY JAS. B. HUNNIOUTT. 

The Cultivator has for years insisted upon digging 
potatoes before frost, but we find that very many farmers 
have not heeded our advice. From force of habit and 



168 Southern Crops. 

from failure to think, they have given all their energy 
tr> saving the cotton crop and neglected the potatoes. 

The cotton could v^^ait without any serious injury. In 
fact, it helps cotton to remain open a short while before 
picking. The lint gets full grown and is longer and better. 

But from carelessness or from habit, a very large part 
of the potato crop is left in the field or- patch, until the 
frost comes. Then we get in a great hurry to dig the 
potatoes. The hurry comes too late. 

But we started to say a few ,words about the saving of 
the potatoes after digging. They should have been dug 
in the lovely weather we have had, as soon as they ma- 
tured. It is always better to house them in dry weather. 
By housing them we do not mean to say that a house is 
necessary, but it is safe and convenient. The potatoes will 
keep just as well in banks or hills in the field, as far as 
rotting is concerned. But thieves are often as bad as 
rotting, or worse. 

A SIMPLE PROCESS. 

To keep potatoes from rotting they should be handled 
with care so as to avoid, as far as possible, bruising them. 
All cut or bruised tubers should be sorted out and used 
or fed to cattle and hogs. There -is a large percentage of 
water in potatoes when first dug. Much of this will dry 
out or evaporate in a few weeks. We should always so 
arrange to permit this to be done as rapidly as possible. 
Great heat will be developed while this is going on. Hence, 
we should arrange for this heat to escape, carrying off 
the water in steam or vapor. If this is done and potatoes 



Sweet Potatoes. 169 

cool off before a severe freeze, there will rarely be any 
rotting. 

The hills, or bins, or houses should be left open at the 
top while this sweating continues. As soon as this is over 
they should be closed and the potatoes kept warm the rest 
of the winter. To accomplish this end a thousand devices 
have been adopted and recommended, most of them silly 
and useless. Help them to cool off and keep them dry and 
warm. These are the essential points in keeping pota- 
toes. We knew a farmer who always dug his potatoes 
on the 20th of October unless it was Sunday. He never 
lost any from rotting. Sometimes he hilled them and 
sometimes he put them in houses. We do not value this 
crop as we ought. We have noticed in our travels many 
potato patches in cotton fields. The farmer would have 
been much better off if he had planted cotton patches in 
his potato fields. 

The sweet potato crop is a money maker if the crop is 
properly handled. It is economy to build a good potato 
house and keep it ready from season to season. We lose 
by temporizing. We would make by doing more perma- 
nent work on our farms. 

October Cultivator^ 1903. 



HOW TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES. 

BY E. T. M. 

I notice in your issue of August 15th, a request for 
the best method of housing sweet potatoes, and note that 
the plan you give is the old one — very good, by the way, 
but not near so satisfactory as a method I have followed 



170 Southern Crops. 

for six or seven years past, and in that time have lost no 
potatoes. A Mr. Brabham, of Bamberg, S. C, was the 
originator, and the farmer who tries it once will never re 
turn to the old plan. I have tried storing the potatoes, 
both wet and dry, and they kept perfectly either way, the 
loss at no time exceeding 2 per cent. 

Dig one or more pits of sufficient size to hold your ci'op 
— a convenient one being 3x6x4 feet deep — care being 
taken not to go deep enough to reach the water level, it 
being essential that the pit should be dry in all seasons. 
Dig tubers at the usual time, just before or after vines 
have been killed by frost, and store them by pouring in 
en the naked earth. Fill to within six inches of the top 
and make a covering that will shed the rain. To do this 
place boards around the pit having the plank on the 
north side 12 inches higher to give it the proper slope 
for throwing water. Earth can be banked up around 
these boards to keep out the cold wind. The covering 
should be water-proof and after very cold weather sets 
in a little straw or old sacks thrown on top of the pota- 
toes, will be all that is necessary to protect them. The 
earth, being a good absorbent, will take off the moisture 
from the potatoes and the cover, not being air-tight, also 
assists in dispelling the dampness.. The potatoes being 
below the level of the ground, will not be subject to varia- 
tions of temperature, and will keep without 'sprouting or 
rotting until June or Tuly. A pit such as this can be dug 
under a shed or under a house that is sufficiently high 
from the ground. My pit last year was under my kitchen, 
covered by an old door resting flat upon it, and the pota- 
toes kept perfectly without even the protection of straw, 



Sweet Potatoes. 171 

and were convenient to get at. Let your readers store 
part of their crop by your plan and part by this, and they 
will never again return to the old method. 
Sumter County, S. C, Aug. 28, 1908. 



HOW TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES. 



BY J. A. J. 



I notice in your issue of the 15th of June an inquiry 
made of how to keep sweet potatoes until spring, and 
thought I would give you my plan of how to keep them 
from one digging time to another. 

Dig when ripe or matured, frost or no frost, house them 
in a good house made for that purpose with dirt floor, 
put dirt around house to keep any water from entering in. 
Dig potatoes, if possible, when ground is dry. Pile them 
up in the house nicely, and then get dry sand and pour all 
over the potatoes, until every vacant place is filled with 
sand. If very cold spells come, throw over the top of 
pile some old dry cloths (old quilts are 'best) and then 
when it turns warm remove them. Kepeat this every cold 
spell. 

I have been housing my potatoes this way for about 18 
years, and have them from one digging time to another. 
The same sand will do for years but has to be recruited 
occasionally. 

Banks County, Ga. 



172 Southern Crops. 

TO KEEP SWEET POTATOES. 

];V G. \V. THOMPSON. 

I would like to give the readers of your valuable papei* 
my plan of keeping potatoes. 

I have a place in one corner of my garden. I always 
keep a shelter to cover them. When I dig them, I pile 
them up under the shelter, the seed in one bank and the 
ones to eat in another. I first set up cornstalks around 
them, breaking off the tops so they will not be too long, 
then I throw some fine straw over them; then cover with 
dirt several inches deep. Do not leave any air-hole at all. 
In extreme cold weather I throw some more dirt on them 
to keep them from freezing. I always cover them right up 
as soon as I get through digging. 

I keep them every year until the new crop comes in, 
and have not seen a peck of rotten ones in ten years, un- 
less it should leak on them. 

I hope a number of your readers who have been losing 
their potatoes will try my plan and let me hear through 
your paper how they succeed. I think the secret is in 
keeping the air excluded. I am always careful to cover 
them well when I get them out. 

Cultivator, 1903. 



THE CULTUKE OF CANTALOUPES. 

BY BEADLEY HANCOCK. 

I have grown the Rocky Ford melons successfully for 
several years in this way: I plant on good, rich hill land, 
n voiding low creek flats or bottom. For a very early start 
I use the tomato hot bed, after taking off the tomato plants, 
planting the melon seed about March 10 in this latitude. 
After w^orking over the top of the hot bed thoroughly, 
smoothing down and firming the soil, I then put on the dirt 
bands, which are made for the purpose by most of the 
fruit-box factories and are like the bottomless rim of a 
strawberry guard, only they are about four inches square. 
These dirt bands should be wet before you put them in 
])lace to prevent breaking. Commencing near the end of 
tlio bed, place the bands in straight rows across the bed, 
having all the band-folds on the sade-side. After placing 
two rows across the bed get a plank six feet long, place it 
close alongside the last row of bands, press them gently 
but firmly against the other row, so they will fit close and 
leaves no waste space. When you have all of the bands in 
place, bank dirt up compactly against the last row to hold 
all the rows firmly in their places. The dirt bands being 
properly placed in the bed, procure some rich soil from the 
woods — the kind of soil the old darkies call "made dirt" — 
i. e. soil that has washed down and lodged in. some fence 
corner and consists of leaf mold, sand, etc., and fill the 
bands with this to within one-half inch of top, well packed. 
Take a dibble — a wooden one — with a four-square leve] 



174 Southern Ceops. 

point, stick the pointed end in the centre of each band, ma- 
king a hole about one inch deep for the seed. I make it a 
practice to take each individual seed between my thumb 
and forefinger and every seed that feels soft or flabby, I 
throw away, using only plump, firm seed, planting three 
seeds in each band. 

Basing your work on your planting 250 hills in the field 
each day, plant only 250 bands the first day, 250 the next 
day and so on, taking as many days to sow your seed in 
the bed as it will require days to set the plants in field. 
It is my custom to sprinkle — not soak — the seed just be- 
fore I cover them, so there will be moisture to insure their 
prompt sprouting. I prefer sash to canvas to cover the 
bed, for I have found light very necessary to the proper 
growth of the melon plant. If too dark the plant will run 
up rapidly and spindling and be very brittle. If you have 
no glass and are compelled to use canvas, do not fail to 
give the bed all the air and sunshine possible. I have a 
good thermometer in my beds and endeavor to keep the 
temperature ta 85 degrees in daytime and about 65 degrees 
at night. Watch closely for the little striped beetles as 
soon as your plants are well up, and when you first see 
them at once dust the plants with wood ashes or air-slaked 
lime thoroughly. The danger from insects is practically 
over when the plants have formed two' leaves, in size about 
that of a half-dollar coin, and by this time the plants are 
ready to be placed in the field. If the .roots of a melon 
plant are injured it means certain death to the plant and 
at this stage of the proceeding I w^et the dirt in the bands 
so it will be well saturated. Move bands, dirt and all to 
the field, set down on the hills already prepared, remove the 



Canialoupes. 175 

bands, press the loose field dirt close to the block of dirt 
and the plants will grow right off without wilting. Very 
often I again dust the plants at planting time to avoid any 
possible danger from bugs. Keep a good lookout for any 
appearance of damping-off fungus while the plants are in 
the bed. Free ventilation and watering carefully, and 
keeping the heat up during cloudy days, will tend to keep 
this in check. I also use one ounce of potassium sulphide 
to three gallons of water as a spray to keep this fungus 
in check. In preparing the ground for these melons, after 
plowing deeply and thoroughly the fall previous, after har- 
rowing I take a double team and two-horse plow and mark 
the field deeply in straight rows five feet apart each way so 
that at crossing of the furrows there will be deep checks ; 
with a load of manure driven astride one row put two 
shovelfuls in each check where a hill is to be made, doing 
three row^s at a time. 

If you have a large field skip one row after manuring 
ten rows, then manure tw^enty row^s and skip one row, and 
thus across the field. The object of this is, it saves ma- 
nure and the vacant rows can be used to drive your w^agon 
along in distributing empty picking baskets to the hands 
and for receiving full baskets from the pickers. By this 
way a picker has only to cross a fifty-foot space to deliver 
his full basket to the wagon and receive an empty basket. 

When your field is all manured, take a two-horse plow 
and cover the manure checks with two furrows each way, 
forming square hills, then plow between the hills with a 
one-horse cultivator. I always prefer to do this work the 
fall before. I have more time then to do the work care- 
fully and properly, and should the spring prove a wet one, 



176 Southern Crops. 

or dry, the hills already prepared the fall before will be 
in a good condition for work and setting the plants. The 
day before I am ready to set the plants, I take a double 
team and five-tooth cultivator and drive astride the rows of 
hills. I weight the cultivator so that it will go deep and 
tear down the hills. When ready to set the plants in the 
hills I take the cultivator and drive the other way on as 
many rows as I intend setting that day. While one crew 
of hands are removing the plants from the bed and bring- 
ing them to the field I have another crew with shovels pul- 
verizing the soil in the hills, making it fine for the recep- 
tion of the plants. After the plants are set do not on any 
account disturb or injure the roots in any way, nor allow 
any grass or weeds to grow in the hills. When the vines 
begin running, carefully turn them aside, drawing fine dirt 
up around the hill to smother any young grass that may be 
starting. It is my custom to keep the Planet Jr. cultiva- 
tors and float drag going over the field twice a week until 
the vines are running too much to make such work safe. 
I have never found that T have worked a melon field too 
much. 

A melon is exactly in the proper condition for 
shipment when the stem slightly parts from the melon, 
leaving no traces of stem tissue thereon, nor any portion 
of the melon left on the stem, which always happf^ns when 
the melon is pulled too green. At the proper picking 
stage too, a peculiar gray appearance is on both skin and 
netting. This feature is readily recognized when one be- 
comes accustomed to pickings, one early in the morning 
and again late in the afternoon. The shipping season us- 
ually lasts about forty days and the average yield is about 



Cantaloupes. 177 

400 bushels per acre with 1,742 hills to the acre when 
planted five feet apart. Some growers prefer the half 
bushel Climax basket, and in many of the melon-growing 
sections this is the package in common use, but I prefer 
the one-third bushel handle Climax with slat cover. I in- 
tend, however, to make up a melon crate of my own inven- 
tion to use in future, having tried this on a small scale 
and found it carried the melons better, made a much more 
attractive display in market, packed in the car more satis- 
factorily and cost less than the baskets, for I make them up 
myself during rainy, winter days instead of cussing and 
discussing "the political situation" at Uncle Lisha's shop. 
The melons should be very carefully assorted before pack- 
ing, having all the melons of the same ripeness as near 
as possible, discarding all cracked, over-ripe, or ill-shaped 
melons. It is always best in a melon growing community 
for the growers to form a shipping association. There is 
much to be gained by this. Apart from your supplies of 
every kind being purchased at wholesale prices, your prod- 
ucts will be eagerly sought for by the buyers if properly 
grown and packed as they should be, and good prices ob- 
tained. If the editor wishes I will give in detail the 
modus operandi of one of the best conducted and most 
successful associations in America, in some future article. 
Alabama, March 21, 1908. 



CULTIVATION OF ^^ROCKY FORD" 
CANTALOUPES. 

BY H. L. TROTT. 

For best results, cantaloupes require a light, quick, 
warm soil in order to germinate the seed quickly, and to 
12 



lYS SouTiiEKN Crops. 

enable the young plants to secure a good foothold in the 
soil, so that they may live and grow should dry weather 
overtake them. Newly cleared land, if well drained and 
friable, makes ideal melon land, because of the humus in 
the soil, and its freedom from grass. Thorough prepara- 
tion is necessary, whether the land be new or old. In 
clearing land for the purpose, all brush and small trees 
should be grubbed out and the large trees sawed so close 
to the ground that disk and spring tooth cultivators can 
be run over them. 

After the land has been thoroughly plowed and cross- 
plowed, it should be laid off in rows as far apart as the 
melons are to be planted — on level land six feet will be 
sufficient, but on rolling land seven feet will prevent in- 
jury to the vines. By bedding upon these row^s, cutting 
up the beds with disc harrows, and dragging out the loose 
roots with spring tooth harrows the ground can be put 
into good shape for planting. Old land is better fall- 
plowed and left rough through the winter, in order to 
destroy insects and weeds. Early in the spring it can be 
thrown into beds and the soil Avell pulverized. 

Shortly before planting time, a middle burster is run 
flown in middle of the beds and a fertilizer containing 7 
per cent, phosphoric acid, 4 per cent, nitrogen, and 8 ]'>er 
cent, potash, is drilled into them at the rate of 800 pounds 
to the acre. Prof. Starnes' formula 3:7:8 is to be recom- 
mended for the fertilizer. This must be thoroughly mixed 
with the soil. The furrow is then filled and ridged with 
a disc cultivator. As soon as danger from frost is past, 
drag off the tops of the ridges and plant six to eight Eocky 
Ford cantaloupe seeds three-quarters of an inch deep, in 



Cantaloupes. 179 

hills two feet apart in the row. Let the seed come from 
Colorado, and do not use acclimated seed from home- 
grown melons, as this will produce fruit too large for the 
standard crate, which contains forty-five cantaloupes of 
standard size. Old seed is better than new, so long as it 
has not lost its germinating power. 

For extra early cantaloupes, the seeds are planted in 
receptacles made of small splint baskets packed closely 
together in a cold frame and filled with compost topped 
with sand. When the plants have developed several rough 
leaves they are transplanted into the field. The young 
plants should be kept growing and free from weeds by 
hoeing or cultivating about once a week until the vines 
cover most of the ground. Two-horse spring-tooth culti- 
vators can be used while the plants are small, the hoe be- 
ing used between the plants in the row. After the plants 
have three or four rough leaves, thin them to one in a hill 
and also fill skips with plants taken out. When vines are 
about eighteen inches long, pinch off the 'ends to force out 
the lateral growth, which bears the fruit. Train the vines 
along the row^ so that more of the ground can be cultivated. 
A vine-turner attached to the cultivator will prevent the 
destruction of many vines. 

In a favorable season, the first cantaloupes will ripen 
in about ninety days, but frequently it will require two or 
three weeks longer. Cantaloupes for shipment must be 
picked before they lose their green color, but not before 
they have developed the flavor of the ripe fruit. At the 
proper stage the netting is very prominent, the stem is par- 
tially dried out, and a Rocky Ford will usually have a 
slight crack where it joins the stem. ^N^ever tear the melon 



180 Southern Crops. 

from the stem, for when this is necessary it is too green. 
It will slip from the stem when ready to be picked. All 
fruit that sets too late to mature should be removed, in 
order to strengthen that which is left on the vines. 

Injury from diseases, such as blight, and from insects, 
is prevented as far as possible by spraying. Experiment 
has shown, however, that too frequent and too early spray- 
ing retards the crop. For the first spraying, if done early, 
use a weak Bordeaux mixture. Copper sulphate 3 pounds, 
fresh stonp lime, 6 pounds, and water, 50 gallons, will be 
safe. Later the 4-4-50 formula may be used. To each 
50 gallons of Bordeaux mixture, add 4V2 ounces Paris 
green to destroy striped bugs, flea beetles, and other in- 
sects. For lice, spray with a solution of one-half pound 
whale oil soap to every gallon of water. Tobacco dust or 
nir slaked lime tinged with Paris green will kill the striped 
bug while the plants are very young. 

In a good season, large profits can be made in canta- 
loupes, but it will take forty to fifty acres to enable one to 
ship profitably in carload lots. These will net in the 
neio-hborhood of one thousand dollars a car, if the fruit 
is of good quality and well packed, as much depends on the 
packing. 



WATERMELONS. 



BY FEED G. MOUGIION. 



Of the many examples of successful farming that have 
come under oar observation this year, none has impressed 
us so strongly as that of Fred G. Moughon, of Walton 
County, Georgia; for we know what a tendency human 
nature has of disparaging the success of others by saying, 
"Oh! If I had So-and-So's advantages, I could succeed 
also." Mr. Moughon started out a few years ago with 
no advantage except energy and an eagerness to learn 
better methods. Listen to this fctory in his own words, 
\\hich several reliable men told us was in no way over- 
drawn. He said: "I started out several years ago with 
an aged mother and father to support, and nothing in the 
world but the fruit of my own labor. My first year I 
plowed a steer and bought him on a credit; but I worked 
hard and made enough to come out, and the next year 
bought a mule. Soon I was able to buy me two mules 
rnd rent a two-horse farm. About this time I married, 
and told my, wife, if she would wait and help me work, I 
\A0uld build her a white pigeon house after awhile, mean- 
ing us a home. Two years ago I was able to buy us a hun- 
dred acres of land paying twenty dollars an acre for it. 
1 could get forty for it now. Last week we moved into 
our new honie, which I have just had erected at a cost of 
sixteen hundred dollars, and my wife and I are about as 
happy over it as people ever get to be. I make good crops, 
and as an example, will tell you of my watermelons. I 
sold one load here this morning, in a lump, for ten d'Hlars. 



1^52 SoUTlIEKN OllOPS. 

I make several hundred dollars every year from my mel- 
ons. 1 have a contract to furnish one dealer with GO 
pounds of my melon seed at $1.00 per pound. 1 can go 
now and gather over one hundred melons that will average 
from hfty to sixty pounds; and 1 learned how to raise 
them from your father's article in the Cultivator. I dy- 
namite my lioles. I first lay off my rows ten feet with 
two-horse plow, throwing dirt each way. Then check 
it eight feet other way. Take shovel and throw out loose 
dirt at each hill ; and with a crowbar I make a hole down 
in the clay from 2% to 3 feet, and put in one-third of a 
stick of dynamite and touch her off. Then I mix som.e 
soil and manure over this loosened dirt, and make my hill, 
and plant my seed, and I never fail to make fifty and 
sixty-pound melons." When Mr. Moughon had finished 
this narrative, I knew the secret of his success, viz., ''that 
he was not a hearer of the word only, but a doer of the 
word." 

Of the many who read the article on dynamiting holes 
for watermelon hills, we expect he was the only one who 
had the nerve to give it fair trial ; the others simply passed 
it by as something too bookish to be practical. It thrills 
onr heart as nothing else can, to thus see some practical 
man who can grasp and successfully embody the most ad- 
vanced thought on his line of work. Work is grand and 
thought is glorious, and from the union of the two can 
only come the highest achievement in any line ; and when- 
ever we find a farmer who has been quickened into better 
endeavor by the flasli of this thonght-spark, we sincerely 
return thanks to Heaven, and take on new heart. If it 
be that such an one conies up from tlie walks of the lowly, 



184 Southern Crops. 

it only rejoices us the more ; for nothing should gladden us 
more than to see humanity on the upward move. 
October Cultivatok, 1905. 



GROWING WATERMELONS. 

BY W. B. RODDENBERRY. 

We never can forget the first time we met Mr. Roddcn- 
berry, it was at the Cane Growers' Association, at Mont- 
gomery, Ala. Dr. II. W. Wiley, of the Department at 
Washington, had just finished a very clear and forcible 
address; then the Chairman announced that he would be 
followed by farmer W. B. Roddenberry, of Cairo, Ga. 
When he had finished his address it thrilled our very soul 
with joy and pride, that here was a farmer who could 
measure arms and brains with any of them. Ever since 
that time we have looked forward to the day, when we could 
visit him at his home and see just how he operated his 
farm. We went down on July 10 ; we can not describe his 
many acres of cane, corn and cotton; but will say they 
were all fine. We saw 150' acres in a body of corn that 
will yield 80 bushels or more. Mr. Roddenberry has sev- 
eral thousand rcres, numy cattle and head of hogs. He 
runs thirteen plows on his home-place, and has an over- 
seer, who has a fine sadrlle-horse, which he mounts and 
rides all day, keeping up with the plow- and hoe-hands. 
Of course, he could not make the eminent success he do'^^, 
without system and much labor; but one of the thin^rs 
that impresses you most is his full equipment of machin- 
ery. Two-horso plows, two-horse wheel cultivators, and 



Melons. 185 

every conceivable implement, such as plows, harrows, reap- 
ers, harvesters, etc. 

We must content ourselves with giving one example of 
just how Mr. Roddenberry makes his force and knowledge 
felt, as to financial results. We give you a cut of his fine 
Avatermelon field. We asked him how it was he grew 
them so fine ; so much larger than his neighbors, ^^Did you 
double or treble the amount of the fertilizer?" He re- 
plied, ^'No, I only used 600 pounds per acre; just what my 
neighbors used. You see, I simply carried out the law 
of nature, which is, — you must secure a strong vigorous 
vine, before you can grow a large melon. When it rained 
so much and the vines began to run out and put on small 
melons my neighbors quit working theirs ; but I kept throw- 
ing up my vines and plowing them, even though they thre.v 
off the young melons, until I had plow^ed them three 
more times. When they had secured the proper growth, 
1 laid them by. The result is, I am averaging 48-pound 
melons by the car load. Have averaged over $150 net per 
car, and will get nearly a car load per acre ; jdoubling my 
neighbors in yield, and doubling them in price." This is 
\\hat Ave call success, — knowledge and good work put into 
operation and resulting in a complete success. 



GROWITsTG WATERMELOI^S FOR PROFIT. 



BY R. J. VENABLE. 



I am a successful melon grower so will give my method 
of raising them. I select a sandy piece of land, and as 
early as it is possible plow it deep and well, and for my 
early melons check it off in eight feet checks with a shovel, 



186 SouTiiEKN Crops. 

throw out the dirt and in each hill placo a half peck of 
good stable' manure; cover this and to each hill apply a 
quart of cottonseed-rneal, mixing it well with the soil 
This should be done several weeks before you plant. Use 
the melon that your market demands and plant each patch 
of the same kind. They will sell much better if uniform 
in color and size. In planting put nine or ten seed in a 
hill. It is easier to thin out than to replant. As soon as 
they come up loosen the soil around the plants or th^ wind 
will cause them to bruise and take ^'shank rot." Keep 
them well plowed and harrowed until vines begin to run, 
then lay them by clean and level. Do not try to turn the 
vines about to plow them. 

This method will give ripe melons by July 4. In June, 
I plant the same way for a late crop but make the check 
ten feet each way. This crop begins bearing in Septem- 
ber when the main crop is over and prices are so much 
better, that it is very profitable. I haul from two to six 
miles to market and retail most of them. 

Once I get a customer he stands by me, as T keep the 
(piality up to the mark. I m^ke a specialty of selling to 
ladies and always give them a good melon and they know 
they can depend on me. I hav^ found it pays best to raise 
melons you can sell for five and ten cents. I raise some 
very large ones, but the demand for the, big ones is limited. 
I took the prize for best watermelon last year at our ^^TTar- 
vest Fair." Good seed, sandy land, thorough cultivation 
and stable manure and cottonseed-meal will bring melons. 
If bugs bother, I dust snuff on the leaves and around the 
plant and I thin to two in a hill. 

Mclver sugar melon is a choice melon and T plant largely 



Melons. 187 

cf it, but for main crop I use a long black melon similar to 
''Florida Favorite" that can be made to weigh as much as 
90 pounds. 

I save njy own seed from choicest specimens and think 
home-grown seed the best if proper care is taken to select 
good stock to save seed from. 

Jacinto, Ark. 



THE FAMILY MELOJST PATCH. 

BY H. T. COOK. 

The family melon patch, preferably on an eastern ex- 
posure, should be not less than one-half acre planted early, 
another planted in May and the last in June. This amount 
ought to furnish enough for a family and its immediate 
friends, and a surplus sufficient to pay for expenses of 
cultivation, besides the culls which make the piggies have 
a lively scramble. 

For a one-horse farmer, the best preparation, where the 
subsoil is hard clay, is to break up land and lay it off ten 
feet each way and dig holes at the intersection about a 
foot and a half Avide and deep. Fill with the best soil, 
well mixed with stable manure and raise it slightly above 
the level. Secure the very best seed and use them liber- 
ally in each hill. 

A saving of ten per cent, in seed often means the loss 
of ten dollars in harvest time. 

When the plants are in sight keep the crust broken. 
The melon is ninety-eight per cent, water and the duo- hol^s 
beneath each hill are intended to store up the water for use 
in hot weather and the keeping the crust broken is to 



188 Southern Crops. 

prevent evaporation and a condition of the surface not 
favorable for plant growth. Visit the patch every day and 
look out for insect enemies. Put a pinch of nitrate of soda 
around each hill and as soon as the striped bug begins to 
Slick the life out of the tender leaves, sprinkle them with 
"bug death" and repeat the dose after rains, winds or a 
new arrival of insect immigrants. Thin out to four stalks, 
and go over the patch two or three times a week, prepared 
to replant or administ(;r the antidote. As the insects are 
vanquished, thin out to two and finally to one. The 
first four weeks is the crisis in the melon patch. Give it 
Ihf proper care and protection in these weeks and tli''ii tli^' 
attention may Ix; reduced on a level with that given to 
corn or cotton. A neighbor of mine planted a well-pre- 
pared melon patch and both plowed and hoed it well. At 
gathering time, his question was, "IIow is it your melons 
are more forward and Ix^tter than ininc^?" The reply was, 
''I gave my melons when they were young, the same at- 
tention which you gave to your colts when they arrived. 
Tlic ])i\])y melo!i has to l)e looked after with even more 
fissiduity than a colt." 

The remainder of the ciiltivjiiion is mostly plowing and 
hoeing. A row of ])e''s or goobers in the middle at the 
last plowing may serve jis fin anchor or as a shade to the 
ripening dainties. The variety for the family u.se should 
bo ;i thin rind, sweet variety. The time is past when any 
find every variety can be sold to ndvfintfige in competition 
with the best. The razor-back melon, when hauled to 
market, has to stand around and wait for a purchaser and 
fee the improved varieties going like hot cakes. 

The latest melons have other enemies, which require 



Melons. 189 

spraying to preserve the vines ; but in the rush of work on 
the farm they are liable to be neglected. The greater skill 
required to raise them is requited by a higher remunera- 
tion in prices. 

Every family should have a melon patch. Fruit and 
berry crops depend largely on weather conditions; but 
Providence has put the melon crop almost entirely under 
the control of the skillful planter. Provide a good sup])lv 
for your children and visitors every year, and when you 
are gone, they will remember how thoughtful and provi- 
dent you were and imitate your example. 

Greenville County, S. C. 



GROWING IRISH POTATOES. 

BY JAS. B. IIUNNICUTT. 

This crop has been known and grown so long that it 
seems like it would be useless to say anything more about 
it; but the present price of even common eating potatoes 
is so high, that it shows conclusively that enough has not 
yet been said. The price continues to go up while the 
supply continues to go down. This settles the question 
that not enough potatoes are put in the ground. 

Potatoes are perhaps the easiest crop to grow that a 
Southern farmer can try. But right in the face of that 
fact we are now shipping large quantities of them from the 
North and West. This can be stopped and should be 
stopped at once. All that is needed is to go to planting 
Irish potatoes at the earliest day you can get your land 
ready. They will grow planted any time from now until 
August. 

At the risk of seeming to repeat we will give minute di- 
rections how to plant and cultivate them. 

Break the land deep and harrow it until the soil is very 
fine. This- is more important for the Irish potato crop 
than almost any other. They can uot be worked right 
around the vines after they begin to grow without injury 
to the tubers. Hence it is very important to get the soil 
as fine as possible before planting. Another reason why 
this should be done is because the tubers will grow so much 
larger if the soil is fine. 

Lay off the row^s three feet apart with some plow that 
will make a good, deep furrow. Cut the potatoes to iwo 



Irish Potatoes. 191 

or three eyes. Dry them with land plaster, or ashes or 
dust — anything that will absorb the sap on cut surface. 
This is very important if you wish to get a good stand. 
This prevents the water or the soil from rotting the pieces. 
1 his should be done two or three days before planting, a 
week will not hurt. 

Drop the pieces one foot apart, put in some rotting straw 
cr trash of almost any kind, so as to prevent the bed from 
baking. Cow^ manure is the best, but stable manure will 
do. If you have neither and must use fertilizers, then it 
is good to use the best per cent, of potash. They do not 
need much nitrogen. This makes large vines at the ex- 
pense of the potato crop. 

Cover them moderately deep. . Just before they come 
up, run over the rows with a weeder or some light harrov;, 
so as to break the crust and kill any weeds that may be 
sprouting. This w^orking is very important. It hastens 
the growth of the crop as well as helps to get a perfect 
stand. As soon as they are well up, plow out the middles 
good and deep. Your crop is now w^ell-nigh made. All 
that needs to be done is to keep the crust broken by an 
occasional harrowing. Far ahead of other crops they will 
be bringing in money just at a time when you most need 
it to help yovi cultivate the other crops. 

The best variety to plant will differ somewhat according 
to locality and market. There are several standard varie- 
ties w^hich may be relied upon almost anywhere, such as 
Early Eose, Peerless, and Beauty of Hebron. Many of 
the new ones are worth trying. Your seedsmen can gener- 
ally advise you. 

And this reminds us that we wash to call attention em- 



192 Southern Ckops. 

phatically to the folly of the custom of buying our seed 
every year. This is entirely wrong. We can save better 
seed than we can buy. We have tested this personally. For 
seventeen years we grew our potatoes from seed of our own 
saving. They not only did not run down, but they actu- 
ally improved from year to year. Again we know it to 
be a fact that very many of the so-called Eastern seed 
which we buy were raised here in the South and kept over 
the winter in a cellar, or shipped up ITorth, rebranded 
and shipped back here and sold to the Southern buyer at 
a high figure to satisfy his ignorance. 



EARLY IRISH POTATOES. 

BY MARK EIEGEL. 

For the early crop, we select, if possible, a light, sandy 
loam that will not produce less than a bale of cotton* to the 
acre. We like to have it turned in early winter with a 
two-horse plow and. follow in the furrow and lift the sub- 
soil with a subsoil-plow or a four-inch scooter on a single 
plow. By doing this, we are able to hold the winter rains, 
as our potatoes suffer almost every year by drought, when 
not irrigated. 

At planting time we run a cutaw^ay harrow over the land 
to thoroughly pulverize, and lay off rows with a shovel- 
plow, three feet apart and four to five inches deep. 

For fertilizers we use the following: 

Acid phosphate 14 per cent 1000 lbs. 

Cottonseed-meal 000 lbs. 

Nitrate of soda 200 lbs. 

Muriate of potash 200 lbs. 



Irish Potatoes. 193 

Use 1,000 to 1,500 pounds per acre before planting, 
thoroughly mixing in the furrow with a scooter-plow or 
a cultivator set close. Mix thoroughly. This is impor- 
tant, as most cases of burning or injury to the seed can 
be attributed, not so much to the amount of fertilizer used, 
as to lack of thorough mixing. 

If the land is lacking in humus (vegetable matter) and 
was not in cowpeas the previous summer, we sometimes 
give the land a fair dressing of stable manure (15 two- 
horse loads per acre), which we thoroughly cut away into 
the top soil before breaking, which tends to pulverize all 
lumps, and the soil is more thoroughly pulverized than 
by breaking. 

If the soil is fairly well supplied with humus we would 
rather dispense with the stable manure, as it tends to en- 
courage the scab fungus. Do not use cottonseed, as they 
do not become available soon enough for the potatoes. 

We plant nothing but the "Red Triifmph" as it is the 
best extra early we have ever tried. By getting healthy, 
plump seed, free from scab, we have had so little of this 
disease as to not pay to treat them. 

Cut seed pieces to two eyes, and drop twelve inches apart 
in rows. Cover with two furrows, leaving a slight ridge 
over the rows. When the seeds are sprouted and nearly 
out, run a smoothing harrow cross-ways over the rows, 
which will all but level down the ridge. As the plants are 
showing along the rows, go over them with the weeder, 
taking two rows at a time. The after-cultivation should 
be often, but shallow, using a Planet, Jr., or other cultiva- 
tor with sweeps, ^ever let a crust form, thus conserving 
all moisture possible. 
13 



194 SouTHEEN Crops. 

We plant last week in February, up to the middle of 
March and begin digging by the time they are the size of 
good-sized hen eggs. In the absence of a potato digger, 
we run a shovel-plow under the row, which gets them about 
all out. We have had no experience in shipping, as we 
raise entirely for our home market. 

For the Colorado potato beetle, which every one has 
learned to dread, we use Paris green and slaked lime, two 
pounds of the green to one bushel of lime, mixing thor- 
oughly. We find a Leggett's dry powder duster very good 
for putting this on, and if done early in the morning, when 
the leaves are damp, sticks well and is effective. 

For the grower who has but a small area, the dust can 
be put on by placing it in a coarse- woven gunny-sack and 
shaking over the row, which can be done almost as fas' -is 
you can walk* 

Hand-picking is probably the safest plan for the home 
garden. 

Spalding County, Ga. 



SECOND CHOP IRISH POTATOES. 

BY W. C. CROOK. 

I have grown the second crop of Irish potatoes quite 
extensively for a number of years. For five years I have 
made this crop somewhat of a specialty and find I am 
able to realize a net profit of $125 to $160 per acre from 
this crop. Two years ago I made some experiments that 
may prove interesting and beneficial to those who are grow- 
ing and contemplating growing this crop. 

The year preceding the potato crop I planted three acres 



Ieish Potatoes. 195 

to corn on this land and I sowed one acre in cowpeas; at 
last plowing of corn sowing 1% bushels per acre. On 
one acre I sowed one bushel of cowpeas and 12 pounds 
crimson clover at last plowing of corn. On acre ~Ro. 3 
1 did not sow anything. In spring preceding the potato 
crop the entire field was broken and subsoiled and given a 
top dressing of barnyard manure — 20 two-horse loads per 
acre. Acre IN'o. 1 and also acre I^o. 2 was sown again 
to cow^peas, IV2 bushels on each acre; acre IsTo. 3 was again 
left naked. In latter part of July the entire field was 
again broken and harrowed until in fine condition to re- 
ceive the seed. The seed planted was our home improved, 
acclimated, Red Triumph. I have found from several 
test experiments that home-grown seed where they are 
carefully improved will outyield imported seed of the 
J ame variety. The seed were selected from hills that were 
free from all disease ; also from hills that bore the largest 
yield of uniform marketable tubers. Those used for seed 
were cut into and bedded in a shady place in damp sand. 
This sand was kept damp by daily watering. In nine 
days I had a fine lot of seed just beginning to form sprouts. 
These w^ere cut to one and two eyes and dropped ten inches 
apart in drills, having drills thirty inches apart. 

In laying oif drills I used a long bull-tongue shovel and 
ran twice in same furrow, thus getting the seed well into 
the moist soil. I lay off a few rows at one time and keep 
well up w^ith covering, finding the latter very essential as 
the hot August sun avouM greatly injure the tender growl- 
ing sprouts; when through planting- I harrow the sur- 
face level and cover furrow ^ve inches with leaves and 
straw. I find I am able to do this in less time than I can 



196 Southern Ceops. 

cultivate the entire time. I am also able to get from 
twenty-five to sixty bushels more potatoes per acre by the 
iiiulch. I have also found mulch-grown seed to give a 
larger yield than those grown by cultivating. I find the 
crops that follow on land that was mulched give a larger 
yield than those grown by cultivating. 

On acre No. 1 that was sown to covvpeas at last working 
of corn and followed with cowpeas in spring I made 146 
bushels of the second crop. On acre 'No. 2 that was sown 
to cowpeas and crimson clover at lasi working of C07*n 
and followed with cowpeas in spring I got 166 bushels. 
On acre No. 3, that did not receive anything at last work- 
ing of corn, and w-as not sown to cowpeas in spring I only 
got 101 bushels. Potatoes that grew on acres ISTos. 1 and 
2 were also much smoother and more uniform than those 
that grew on acre No. 3. Besides the sowing of peas and 
clover the land was of same nature and received the same 
amount of manure as well as the same preparation and 
mulching. I have also found subsoiling to give a decided 
increase in yield over same nature of land not subsoiled. 
If any information on the above crop is desired I will 
answer any query that any reader of this paper cares to 
submit. Perhaps in the future I will toll how T spray, 
harvest and market the crop. 

Tennessee. 



GKOWING EARLY TOMATOES. 

BY O. L. CAKMICHAEL. 

PEEPAEiNa Your Hot Bed. 

The first requisite to growing early tomatoes success- 
fully, is to get early, stocky plants. To secure these it is 
necessary to have a hot bed. This need not be expensive, 
the only cost being some glass sash. My plan is to dig 
out a trench 18 inches deep, six feet wide and the length 
in proportion to the number of plants desired. In the 
bottom of this trench put four inches of stable manure, 
waste from an oil mill, or any coarse litter. The ob- 
ject is two-fold: Eirst, drainage, and' second, to set 
up fermentation so as to produce heat. I rely upon my 
glass to give the heat necessary, however. Then put en 
four inches of rich woods earth, rake and smooth nicely. 

Planting The Seed. 

There are several varieties of early tomatoes. Choose 
the variety you like and lay off your rows four inches wide 
across the bed and about one inch deep. Drill your seed 
evenly but not too thick. ^N'ow take the back of your rake 
and smooth the surface down nicely, pressing the rake 
well so as to firm the earth around the seed. This will 
cover them about half an inch in depth. The soil should 
be dampened so as to be in good moist condition. Before 
planting cover them with glass and watch them from day 
to day until they germinate. Whether they will need any 
moisture will depend upon the heat of the sunshine. This 
should be done in January and much care given in cold 



198 Southern Crops. 

nights lest they get nipped. Have some old (piilts, 
■sacks or straw to cover against cold spells. • 

Transplanting. 
The last of February or first of March your plants will 
begin to grow to such a height that to secure stocky plants, 
you will have to transplant them. Fix a bed pretty much 
as you did your hot bed, only put four inches of good rich 
dirt and cover with three inches of sand. The frame over 
this transplanting bed should be covered with common 
sheeting until they are well rooted, then uncover each day 
when sun is shining warm. You can thin out in your 
hot bed, leaving plants about same distance as placed in 
the cold frame. This wdll give you fine plants for the 
open. 

Preparing Your Patch and Putting Out in the Open. 

Where you wish to have your patch, the land should be 
v\ell broken; then take a Dixie Boy or Good Farmer and 
lay off your rows four feet wide, going twice in the same 
furrow, ^ow take your guano distributor, with plow off 
so as not to put fertilizer any deeper in soil and apply 
from 1,000 to 1,500 ponnds of fertilizer per acre. You 
want a very high grade and exceptionally high in potash. 
I prefer a 9-5-7 goods. Then take a Planet, Jr., culti- 
vator with all the hoes du it, but drawn close in, and run 
along this furrow. This will make a low list, clean the 
row and pulverize the dirt. 

About the first of April with ns ;n'd with yo^i as early 
as you can risk them being nipped by the frost, put out 
your plants. T always water them liberally, putting a 
pint to the plant. This is a better plan than to wait Qn a 



Tomatoes. 199 

wet spell. Set your plants four feet in the drill. Be 
sure to set them deep. A tomato plant should always, be 
set from ^2 to 2/3 of its length in the soil. This is very 
essential to vigorous stocky vines, well set with fruit. 
This not only causes them to bear more abundantly, but 
also to come on much earlier. Anyone carrying out this 
plan can expect a yield of from 200 to 300 bushels per 
acre, and to put his tomatoes upon the market from two 
to three weeks earlier than his neighbors. 
Fulton County, Ga. 



GROWING TOMATOES. 



BY CHARLES DECKNEK. 



To grow tomatoes successfully whether for home or for 
the market, the most important consideration is the selec- 
tion of suitable soil. It has been said that tomatoes will 
grow on almost any kind of soil. This was true until 
some twenty years ago, when the tomato was attacked by 
blight, but now unless your soil is free of blight germs, 
it is impossible to grow a good crop. The only way you 
can prevent this blight is by planting on different plots 
each year. E'o land should be planted in tomatoes where 
they have been grown within the past four or five years. 
When this blight question has been settled, the next thing 
to be considered is the nature and quality of the soil. A 
light and rather open, or what we call loamy soil, is prefer- 
able, especially for an early crop. It should have a south- 
ern or southeastern exposure, and should be well drained. 
!N^ext in order is the fertilizing. ^NTever use stable manure 
for tomatoes ; it causes too much growth of vine and makes 



200 Southern Crops. 

them rot too badly. We prefer a fertilizer in the propor- 
tion of 5-6-7 ; that is to say, 5 per cent, of ammonia, 6 
per cent, phosphate acid, and 7 per cent, potash. This, 
however, is not an infallible guide, as we must take into 
consideration what elements of fertility the soil already 
contains. Tomatoes require a considerable amount of 
potash to give color and flavor and to cause them to be 
free from rot. Muriate of potash destroys the flavor some- 
Avhat, so that sulphate of potash is preferable. You should 
be careful not to get too much ammonia or nitrogen. If 
soil already contains an ample supply, it should be left out 
of the fertilizer. I have found it a good idea to plant to- 
matoes on corn land, or after some crop that uses consider- 
able amount of nitrogen. 

I need not say much about the preparation of the soil, 
more than to say that the tomato delights in a deep and 
Avell pulverized soil, as it is very susceptible to drouth. 
You want the roots to go down and to have every facility 
for obtaining both moisture and food. In the ISTorthern 
slates there is but one crop grown, the vines bearing until 
killed by frost. With us in the South it is different ; the 
hot sun kills the early planting and we must have a second 
crop for fall use. 

Method of Planting. 

For early tomatoes plant seed iu hi>tbed about tlio mid- 
dle of February, and as soon as they get three or four 
inches high, they are planted into cold frames giving them 
three to four inches space each way. They are kept here 
until about the tenth to the fifteenth of April, when they 
are finally set in the field. I like rows three to four feet 



Tomatoes. 201 

apart, and set plants from two to three feet in the drill. 
I use from five to six hundred pounds of fertilizer and 
prefer to use it broadcast. In setting out plants care 
should be taken to set them in a hole. This answers a 
double purpose. Frost will not kill them so badly if you 
have a light one, and then cut-worms will not attack them 
so badly. We want the top of the plant about even with 
the level of the soil. 

I plant the second crop in June, using a hill-dropper, 
and then thin out. Owing to the usual dry and hot 
weather, this is the best way to secure a stand. If you 
want to transplant, the latter part of July or first of 
August is the time to secure best yields. If you expect 
a frost, pull your tomato vines, or gather the tomatoes and 
they will ripen for a month longer. 

As to varieties, I like the "Earlianna," the "Early 
Pink," the "Stone," and "Redfield Beauty." If I were 
confined to one variety, I would take the "Stone." The 
"Redfield Beauty" is my favorite for a late tomato. 

The enemies of the tomato are the blight and the worm. 
The worm soon disappears and but little or nothing can 
be done unless you can destroy the moth that lays the eggs. 
The Bordeaux mixture is recommended for blight. This I 
tried for nearly three years by dipping my plant root and 
branch into the solution before setting out. For two years 
I had no blight, and I thought I had the remedy, but the 
third year the blight injured my entire crop. 

I might add that for the home garden, the best results 
are obtained by staking and pruning the vines, but for the 
market gardener this is too expensive and requires too 
much labor. 

Fulton County, Ga. 



202 Southern Ckoi's. 

TOMATOES. ' ^ 

BY FRED WACHS. 

As we have given the tomato a large part of our atten- 
tion as truckers, I will give you the method of growing 
large crops on small acreage. 

In the first place you must have the ground well pre- 
pared. Before plowing we give a liberal top dressing of 
well rotted stable manure, and plow this under. Plow 
six to eight inches deep, as early as the weather will per- 
mit. This may be left in the rough ready to set plants. 

To secure the plants, get good seed of some variety that 
gives general satisfaction, for main crops we use Living- 
ston's Stone ; we find this the best of any we have tried, be- 
ing medium uniform size, good color (attractive), smooth 
and solid, and bear well. The seed is planted in hot bed 
about six to seven weeks before we expect to set them out ; 
if they grow too rank before being ready to set out in the 
patch, we set them out in cold frame about three inches 
apart each way; this makes plants stocky and stronger. 

When ready to set plants in the patch previously plowed, 
we harrow and drag until reasonably fine. Then make 
furrows with a small one-horse plow, or hand plow, fur- 
rows about 31/2 feet apart. (We get these as straight as 
we possibly can.) Plants are now set twenty to twenty- 
four inches apart in these furrows, by scraping a handful 
of earth around the roots and stem and firming down gent- 
ly, and the furrows are filled with a hoe or hand plow. In 
a day or two the plot is looked over (taking one row at a 
time) and any plants that have failed to start properly, or 
have been destroyed are to be replaced at once. We usu- 



Tomatoes. 203 

ally grow three or four times as many plants as we expect 
to set out, so as to be sure to have enough. A stake is now 
set beside each plant (these stakes we get ready during 
the winter, when other work is light, and store away 
ready for use). Any kind of pole about four feet long 
and about two or two and one-half inches in diameter will 
ilo. The stake should be driven firmly in the ground and 
<;iand about three feet above the gi-ound level. The plant 
is tied up to this stake as soon as it shows any inclination 
to topple, and is kept up off the ground. For tying up, a 
piece of soft cloth is torn into strips about one-half inch 
or wider. Take one, wrap around the stake and tie a 
knot, then tie a loose loop around the stem of the plant ; 
don't tie too close ; give the stem of the plant room to grow, 
and as they grow keep them tied up. In the meantime 
don't forget to cultivate. Begin cultivating as soon as the 
plants stand up, stir the ground at least once a week. 
Don't wait for the weeds and grass to show. Keep them 
out of sight by frequent cultivation. * We use a fine tootli 
one-horse cultivator and find this the best all-round tool 
for the garden where a horse can be used. As the plants 
are tied up, they will not interfere with cultivation even 
when very large. 

When the. plant begins to bloom, cultivation must not be 
fo close to the plants, and not so deep as to disturb the 
roots. 

One acre of tomatoes grown in this way will yield as 
much fruit as two acres or more, as ordinarily grown. 
When the vine is left lying on the ground many tomatoes 
rot and fail to ripen evenly on account of contact with 
the earth. With the vines up off the ground, the crop is 



204 Southern Ckops. 

much easier to gather. The fruit is up where it is read- 
ily seen and easy to get at. A trial of this method of 
staking the plants will convince any one that the extra 
trouble is well paid for. In a patch of an acre or more 
we find it best to leave out every fifth row, or leave the 
distance between the fifth and sixth row about five feet to 
admit of the passage of a sled drawn by a horse. The 
fruit is gathered into boxes holding about a bushel, and 
put on the sled, the pickers going between two rows on 
either side of the sled row. 
Indiana, March, 1908. 



onio:n"s. 



BY T. C. NYE. 



There were 105 carloads of Bermuda onions shipped 
from here last season, the product from 110 acres; each car 
averaged in weight about 21,000 lbs. Our settlement here 
with 90 acres planted, made an average of 24,000 lbs. per 
acre. My part of that 90 acres was 13 acres and I got 
456,000 pounds, an average of 35,000 pounds per acre. 
My crop brought f. o. b. here $7,550, $1,300 of which 
could be deducted for expenses, leaving $6,250 clear for five 
months' time. !N'ow I believe in growing on one acre as 
much as some growers require two acres for. The actual 
cost of irrigation to grow^ that 13 acres was fifteen dollars 
per acre from date of transplanting until maturity. There 
\\ere some acres out of the thirteen that made an average 
of 40,000 pounds and the lowest yield of any acre was 
24,500 pounds. All of the ground except the one acre 
liad been well fertilized in the last three years, but when 
the onion crop came off the land Avas plowed and harrowed 
and what needed fertilization got it all right at the rate of 
ro foris per acre, costing $2.25 per ton. This amount ii 
sufficient for three years, but it would not pay to put 
another crop on as soon as the onion crop comes off; that 
might do near a large city where any variety of garden 
truck can be marketed in large quantities. Such crops as 
we could gTOw here in the summer when three times the 
irrigation is necessary would not do at all. The system 
that T follow is to plow and harrow the land and not allow 
grass and weeds to grow on it at all. Should it rain after 



206 Southern Crops. 

being plowed, why just plow and harrow it again, and so 
on after every rain. This is the best plan to keep down 
grass and weeds. There is a piece of land on my place 
160 feet by 500, about two acres, which had become foul 
with Johnson grass for 40 feet the long way, so I con- 
cluded that the Johnson grass must come out. So we ir- 
rigated it first, then with two-mule team we sent our hill- 
fiide pony plow to the beam, then T had six hands who 
worked over that furrow, the team awaiting, and every 
root was taken out and put into baskets and then the team 
laid another furrow on the first one, until we went over 
the whole piece. It took eight days for myself and six men, 
to get it out and in a week or so what was missed sprouted 
and we went over it again, and now after three years it 
is perfectly clear. The onion crop after that working 
was 60,000 pounds, without using any fertilizer at all for 
the first crop, but since then it has been well fertilizofl. 
N^ow it was very hard to account for such a crop, but* when 
I remembered a little story that I read when a boy about 
an old farmer who had a poor farm and a lot of lazy boys 
and when he was on his death-bed he called them to his 
bedside and said, ^'Boys, if you will dig up the farm you 
will find gold." So, they went to work digging, expecting 
to find an iron pot every little way, filled, with gold. 
They dug up the farm and while they failed to find any 
p-old buried, thoy plnut^^r! the field and then they found the 
gold iium the guud crops. Then my 60,000-pound crop 
of onions was easily accounted for. It was the thorough 
breaking and deep tillage the land got that produced the 
gold, $1,200 was what the 60,000 pounds of onions sold 



OxioNs. 207 

for. So Johnson grass after all sometimes proves a bless- 
ing in disguise. 

The Cultivatok's advice to plow deep is splendid. It 
is more than half the battle. Catulla, which is just G5 
miles north of here on the I. & G. N. railway, had a crop 
of a little over 1,600 pounds average per acre on 110 
acres last season, still they claim to be the most expe- 
rienced and successful onion growers in Texas. Besides 
onions we grow cabbage, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, 
beets and turnips, also Tokay and Muscat grapes, a few 
hogs, alfalfa and sorghum to feed our teams on, and last 
but not least, strawberries. They are now in bloom and we 
will have them on Thanksgiving Day. The young onion 
plants are now on my place about four inches high and 
will bo ready to transplant by first of December. 

Texas. 



HOW MR. NYE GKOWS 0:N^I0NS IIST TEXAS. 

Last year I gave you a short account of that season's 
onion crop and now that I have completed another, and 
thinking perhaps the story may be of interest to the many 
readers of your valuable paper who read the other story, 
I shall proceed to give it to you. I had in this time seven 
acres, just the same as last year, and the yield complete 
is 258,100 pounds, an average of 36,781 pounds per acre, 
the average last year was 21,000 per acre, this time the 
increase of the average per acre is 15,871 pounds per 
acre. Below I give the yield of each piece : 



208 " SOUTHEKN CeOPS. 

Two and 9/10 acres were fertilized in 1901 112,228 

In 1899 19,600 

Two acres were fertilized in 1899 82,572 

One-half acre fertilized in 1899 19,600 

Half an acre, no fertilizer at all, but new land . . 18,400 
40,000 square feet, no fertilizer at all, but new land 25,300 



258,100 



The last piece was planted with sets November 8th ; all 
of the balance were from seed planted October 1st, and 
transplanted between December 2nd and 17th. The 2 and 
9-10-acre tract had 160 tons of manure put on it last year 
that came out of some feed lots where several thousand 
steers had been fed on cotton meal and hulls alone and the 
160 tons cost, upon the ground, $225, but it is good for 
three years. I will send you a sample that was grown on the 
two acres that produced the 82,572 pounds. They were 
planted in rows 14 inches apart and S^^ inches apart in 
the drill. After you sample them please state what you 
think of them for size and quality. The crop was con- 
tracted for on the 8th of February at 2 cents f. o. b. and 
has all been delivered. T consider the Cultivator the best 
farm journal that is published in the South. Fertiliza- 
tion combined with irrigation can be made to work won- 
ders in this corner of the United States. The sample is 
of the crystal wax Bermuda variety. I am 58 years old 
to-day, and wish tlio farming fraternity success. 

Texas. 



THE SPRING CABBAGE CROP. 

BY C. L. WILLOUGHBY. 

With the exception of the Irish potato, there is not 
another vegetable so universally grown and esteemed as 
the cabbage. 

It is found on the tables of all classes from the poorest 
to the richest, and furnishes one of the cheapest sources of 
nutriment for the laborer, either fresh or in kraut. In the 
more Northern States, it is grown in immense quantities, 
the grower being able to get a fair profit if he receives 
from six to ten dollars per ton. 

There are a great many people in the lower South who 
do hot think that cabbage will head for them. 

That it does not head as readily as it does farther north 
is true, for the coUard is the result of growing cabbage 
in an adverse climate. In fact, if cabbage is allowed to 
seed in south Georgia or Florida, for some years the dis- 
position to head will become less and less until eventually 
you will have a collard. 

If only Northern-grown cabbage seed be used, planted 
early on deep, rich moist land the influence of an uncon- 
genial climate will be overcome. 

And now a word about seed : don't try to save by buy- 
ing cheap seed. With a crop worth anywhere from $200 
to $600 per acre it is foolishness to try to save at the out- 
side from two to three dollars in buying cheap seed, which 
might mean the price of success or failure. Buy only 
from reliable houses, and buy the best. In. middle Geor- 
gia, for the spring crop start seeds in open ground by the 
14 



210 Southern Crops. 

first to middle of October, for all medium early varieties ; 
for the extra early varieties, such as Early Express, etc., 
this is too early, as quite a large per cent, will go to seed 
in spring. For these, start under glass in mild hot bed or 
greenhouse during December. 

We have found that it pays to transplant all our cab- 
bage plants to cold frames, both those started in the open 
in October, as well as those started in the greenhouse in 
December. The transplanting and beds cost something 
but much is gained in stocky, fully developed healthy 
plants as well as some days in earliness. 

As to varieties I prefer a selected strain of the Old Flat 
Dutch, which makes heads of just about the right size with 
few outside leaves. 

For extra early, plant Jersey Wakefield, and Extra 
Early Express, plant in the field from the first of Feb- 
ruary to the last of March for middle Georgia. The land 
should be manured, plowed and harrowed down ready for 
planting in early winter, preferably before Christmas, as 
January, and early February frequently are so wet as to 
delay the preparation too late to get the crop in when 
wanted. That cabbage requires deep rich soil is hardly 
necessary to say. From twenty to thirty two-horse loads 
of stable manure and 2,000 to 4,000 pounds commercial 
fertilizer per acre being frequently used with profit ; the sta- 
ble manure plowed under with turn-plow, the fertilizer 
broadcasted and worked in the surface soil with cultiva- 
tor or similar tool. Tf you can follow a cowpea crop, so 
much the better. 

There is scarcely a farm or vegetable crop that draws 
near the amount of fertilizing materials from the soil that 



Cabbage. 211 

a cabbage crop does, an average crop draws the following 
amount of fertilizing materials from one acre : nitrogen 213 
pounds, phosphoric acid 125 pounds, potash 514 pounds. 

For comparison, we give the number of pounds drawn 
liy an average crop of cotton from one acre; nitrogen 110 
pounds, phosphoric acid 32 pounds, potash 35 pounds. 

The reader will at once notice the immense amount of 
potash required by the cabbage crop ; over fourteen times 
the amount required by cotton. 

We use the following fertilizer: acid phosphate 400 
pounds, muriate of potash 100 pounds, cottonseed-meal 
400 pounds. Use 2,000 to 4,000 pounds per acre to be 
supplemented by 400 pounds of nitrate of soda applied 
iritor-culturally, one and three v^^eeks after planting in the 
field. 

Distance apart to plant will depend upon two factors, 
viz. : fertility and moisture. Fertility can be supplied, 
l)ut very few are fixed for irrigating. We plant 10 by 20 
inches as we can supply all moisture needed. Where no 
irrigation can be had, and on upland, more distance must 
be given, as much as 18 by 36 inches or more. 

When planted 16 by 20 inches, 19,602 plants are re- 
quired per acre, at 18 by 36 inches, the usual distance, 
9,680 plants will be required. 

Where well manured, and irrigated if not planted close, 
the heads grow too large, — small to medium heads are 
much more salable ; say three to six pounds each, selling at 
five to ten cents, go off much more readily than ten-pound 
heads at twenty-five to thirty cents each. Then in close 
planting the plants soon get together, shading the ground, 



Cabbage. 213 

preventing evaporation and baking of the soil, also less 
waste of material in spraying or dusting for insects. 

But where this close planting is practiced remember that 
when two or three times the usual number of plants arc 
set per acre that a proportionately large amount of manure 
and fertilizer will be required. 

We cultivate every six to eight days with Planet Jr., 
12-tooth cultivator, running very shallow as few crops are 
as easily ruined by disturbing the roots as the cabbage 
crops. 

Do not grow cabbage on the same land oftener than once 
in four or five years, as insects and diseases will increase 
to the extent of making the crop no longer profitable. To 
those who will not heed this flu; experience will come dear. 
The early cabbage crop will come off in time to grow a 
heavy crop of late vegetables, Irish potatoes,, beans or cel- 
ery. That Georgia ought io raise more cabbage, and keep 
money at home, now sent to other States, is evident. 

We will treat of insects, and diseases of cabbage, and 
methods of controlling them in a future article. 

Spalding County, Ga. 



now TO GEOW FALL CABBAGE. 

BY TOM E. ZACHARY. 

The first thing in the cultivation of cabbage is the seed- 
bed. The best plan is to burn a bnisli pile (on upland), 
of hardwood, dig up tlu^, gronnd four inches deep, and rake 
all roots and clods out. Sow your seed and rake them in, 
then press the ground with a board jnst enough to settle 
the dirt to the seed. Cover the bed with leafless brush,, 
enough to half shade the bed, and ,-prinkle the ground 



214 SouTHEKN Crops. 

every evening (if the ground is dry) until the seed come 
up. Don't put heating fertilizers in your seed-bed. When 
the plants get a good start remove the brush gradually un- 
til it is all off. Let the late cabbage stand in the seed-bed 
until the leaves begin to shed off, and transplant late. Au- 
gust is a good month in which to set out late plants. Pre- 
pare your ground two or three weeks before you want to 
set out, and set plants in the ground up to the first leaf. 
Work your cabbage often — deep at first and when they be- 
gin to head, stop work with the plow. Don't set your 
plants out in the mud ; before a rain is the best time. To 
poison the cabbage worm and potato bug, use Paris green 
in a snuff box with a cloth tied over the end, and apply 
the poison about sundown. The rain will wash the poison 
off, therefore there is not much risk in using the Paris 
green. 

We recommend the following mixture as a preventive 
for the harlequin or Lincoln bug: Take, say one quart 
of soot from the chimney or stove, add one tablespoonful 
of kerosene oil, the same amount of spirits turpentine, one- 
fourth pound of gunpowder, the same of sulphur and one- 
half ounce saltpetre. Sprinkle on through a fine sifter 
while the dew is on. Catch every bug in sight ; place him 
between your thumb and finger, and gently press him until 
you feel him pop. Persist in this plan, and the bugs will 
soon disappear. 

To preserve cabbage through winter: Make a trench 
with a long handle shovel ; put in the cabbage after taking 
off most of the loose leaves ; set cabbage in close together ; 
cover first row with dirt which you throw out in opening 
a trench for the next row. Put your cabbage on the cold- 



Cabbage. 215 

est ground you have, and cover them with pine brush. 
Turn them down with head on the ground; put on a little 
straw and cover nearly up with dirt is a good way. 

P. S. — In your last issue of th^ Cultivator in answer 
to a question in regard to sowing late cabbage seed you 
suggest to sow them in a damp place. We agree with you, 
in so far as getting the seeds up is concerned, but alas ! 
when you change the plants from the low, damp ground 
(and perhaps shady location into the common high, thirsty 
gardens in the cotton belt, the change is not favorable to 
the growth of the plant. And oftener than otherwise, the 
plant will sicken and die for the lack of its accustomed 
moisture. We think the seeds should be sown on about 
the same class of land that it is intended for the cabbage 
to grow upon. And if there is not enough rain to bring 
the seeds up the seed-bed can be sprinkled every evening 
for a few days and thus make the seeds come up. 

I^orth Carolina. 



THE GEORGIA COLLARD. 

BY J. c. mcauliff:k. 

There is hardly a Georgian who likes vegetables, but 
who places a high estimation on the Georgia collard. It 
reaches its perfection in midwinter when nearly all other 
vegetables are on the decline and there is bnt little to tickle 
the palate of the vegetarian. Yet there are only a few 
people who know the wonderful possibilities of this great 
crop. It is too late now to plant them, but in many sec- 
tions of the State the growth can be increased between now 
and the coming freezing weather. Even after winter 
comes they can be preserved in excellent style with only a 
little labor. 

If the plants have not attained a large growth an appli- 
cation of nitrate of soda or some fertilizer rich in nitrogen 
and easily available will produce extra size. This growth 
will be tender and make the plant appear as "a thing of 
beauty and a joy forever." 

After the cold weather is over and the plants have ceased 
growing they can be dug up and placed close together and 
bleached, making them more tender. In doing this the 
plants should be taken up by the roots and set in a furrow 
and the earth packed around them. Then they can be 
covered over with pine brush, burlap, or most anything 
to keep out the sunshine and cold weather, and they will be- 
come white and tender and make a dish fit for kings. 

The greater part of the collard seed used in the world 
are grown in Georgia. One house, with whose proprietor 
I am intimately acquainted, sold enough collard seed to 



Cabbage. 217 

one California house to plant 20,000 acres in collards and 
;ui the seed were grown in south Georgia. In that section 
immense areas are grown and fed to stock as the plants 
reach prodigious size and supply much feed, especially 
good for sheep. 

In the last two or three years there has been a scarcity 
of good seed due to the fact that the labor required in 
growing them has been attracted to the cotton fields. It 
is in fact a hard matter to obtain growers for good seed in 
any line and prices for pure goods are far above the com- 
mon average. 

Columbia County, Georgia. 



THE VALUE OF ROOT CROPS AS A FOOD FOR 

STOCK 

BY G. F. HUNNICUTT. 

Of all the sections that we know of, the Southern or Cot- 
ton Belt appreciates least the root crops as a food for 
their stock. Here, where they are so easily grown, and 
can be grown as a second crop, we should expect just the 
opposite. The main reason lies in our lack of interest 
in the raising of live stock, and of any careful study of 
bow we might feed them to the most advantage upon home- 
grown food. We have an idea because turnips and beets 
are 85 per cent, water that they are comparatively worth- 
less as a food, especially when it comes to fattening hogs 
or cattle. The true science of feeding lies in mixing food 
stuff, so as to make a better balanced ration, l^ow it has 
been determined by actual experiments that a bushel of 
corn will give 40 per cent, more gain when fed to hogs 
in connection with a bushel of turnips, than when fed 
alone. The turnips supply what the corn lacks and makes 
the corn give up almost double its former nutrition. This 
will make two and a half bushels of turnips equivalent to 
a bushel of corn. Putting corn at $1.00 per bushel would 
make the turnips worth 40 cents. Now you can grow two 
and one-half bushels of turnips much cheaper than you 
can a bushel of corn. The truth is simply this : All your 
concentrated foods, such as corn, wheat bran, cottonseed- 
meal and shorts are getting so high that any thrifty farmer 
must learn to make them go farther by supplementing 
them with anything he can grow that will enable him to get 



Root Crops. 219 

more feeding value out of them. Every farmer should 
have one to five acres in turnips and the same in sugar 
beets. These crops come on during the w^inter, and give 
that succulent food necessary for ready digestion and 
easy assimilation. They are put here by Providence to 
take the place of summ'er grass during winter feeding. 
They should be the small farmer's silo, and will repay any- 
one's attention many fold. 

The South is now badly in need of progressive leaders 
among our actual farmers who are doing things and not 
spinning theories. We want the growers of Southern crops 
to start out with higher ideals and along better lines of 
farm production and you can not do better than to learn 
to grow every crop that makes food and enables us to keep 
profitably more animals upon our farms. For this pur- 
pose you can not do better than to grow an ample supply 
of rutabagas and mangold- wurtzel beets. 



DWARF ESSEX RAPE. 



BY G. F. HUNNICUTT.. 



Our farmers are becoming more and more interested in 
something green for winter feed. Especially is this true 
with all those who are becoming interested in raising 
hogs and chickens. As a winter hog pasture or as a green 
food for chickens, you can not get anything to excel the 
Dwarf Essex rape. It should be sown broadcast or in 
drills, as you prefer, during August and September; cold 
weather does not kill it. Then during December, January 
and February, you can cut the leaves to feed your hogs 
and chickens, or you can turn them in to graze upon the 



220 Southern Crops. 

plots as you desire. It is also good for cattle and sheep. 
People of ten cook it and nse as a salad. Some even claim 
that it is fully equal to our Georgia collard or turnip salad. 
We think it inferior, however, but it will answer for a 
salad all right. The beauty about rape is that it grows 
on our land during the winter at a time when so much 
of our land is unoccupied, and when our stock will so 
much relish something green. Our farmers certainly need 
to learn more of these winter crops and get into the habit 
of growing more of them. Our land and our farmers 
have too much rest during winter for any high degree of 
thrift. 



BEETS. 



BY G. F. IIUNNIOUTT. 



The beet seed is a peculiar seed, and needs the soil in 
proper condition to gc^rminate well. All soil should be 
rolled or in some M^ay firmed around the beet seed to se- 
cure a good stand. The beet is another voracious feeder. 
You can hardly use too much manure upon your beet rows. 
Henderson says he would put about 75 tons per acre on 
his beet land. The belt rows should be about two feet 
apart, and the beets left about six or seven inches in the 
drill. In thinning the beets out, the young slips can be 
used for salad or you can transplant them. The trans- 
planted beets will make the earliest and best shaped roots. 
The beet can be grown in early spring and also in the 
fall. The beet is a splendid food for the milk cow 
and plenty should be grown and any surplus fed to the 
milk cows or to the hogs. 



HOW TO GROW TURNIPS. 

BY r. E. H. 

As I promised you some time ago, I give you my ex- 
perience in raising turnips. The way that I make a be- 
ginning is first to sow in August with rye the patch that I 
wish to cultivate in turnips the next year. Then in the 
spring after the rye is harvested I turn said patch with a 
No. 13 plow, Oliver chilled if possible; then run a smootli- 
i]ig harrow over it till level. Then in two weeks haul out 
lot manure and stable manure and scatter broadcast over 
it, and plow with ordinary plow. I make a rule to 
plow my patch over every time I plow my crop, up to th^ 
first of August. I have never failed to get a stand of 
turnips when ground is prepared in this way. Then when 
it is prepared in the above manner I sow the seed the last 
of July or first of August broadcast over the ground thus 
prepared. Then I harrow the seod in thoroughly with a 
side-harrow. I had one-quarter acre in last year that was 
prepared in this manner and I sold twelve dollars' worth 
and had plenty left to feed cows and hogs on. I have 
a half acre prepared in the aforesaid manner and I expect 
to sell fifty dollars' worth this fall. I am a renter and 
have lived on the same landlord's land for twelve yejirs. 
Some five years ago, I sent to the soedmen for turnip, seed 
to sow and divi'^ed the seed with my landlord and he, know- 
ing I was successful in raising turnips, requested me to 
sow his patch that he had prepared after his own fashion. 
I scattered the seed for him, then I scattered the seed on 



222 Southern Ckops. 

my own, the same day. The result was that he did not 
get a turnip while mine were successful. So you can see 
that to be sure of a crop, the land must be cultivated right 
before the seed are sown. If any of the readers doubt 
this, there is a way that I can convince them. Readers, 
commence in time for next year if you are fond of turnips. 
Liberty, S. C. 



HOW TO RAISE AISTD KEEP RUTABAGAS. 



T. F. HARLESS. 



As there have been so many in the community asking 
for advice about raising and keeping rutabagas I have de- 
cided to give my experience to the public. 

1. I sowed oats to very good bottom land, which were 
cut about first of June, then I turned land deep with 
two-horse plow and harrowed with disc harrow; then as 
soon as weeds came up I ran a tooth harrow over it. I 
then opened a good furrow, put in light coat of stable ma- 
nure, then mixed dirt and manure with guano distributor, 
putting about 100 pounds of guano, 8-2-2 goods, then bed- 
ded with two-horse plow, then dragged bed with two-horse 
tooth harrow. Then I opened b^d \^ith guano distributor, 
putting about 100 pounds of 8-2-2 goods. The seed were 
then sown in this furrow and covered with tooth harrow. 
The seed were sown about 15th of July. They were hoed 
and plowed twice. I dragged dirt high around part and 
left the others flat but the turnips were not affected by 
this at all. This patch contained about one-fourth of an 
acre; water backed up over about one-third of this and 
damaged it badly, which left about one-sixth of an acre to 



KooT Chops. 223 

make 711/2 bushels, weighing from three to ten pounds 
each. I sold retail, 2 cents per pound; wholesale, 11/2- 
So we see one-sixth of an acre which water did not over- 
flow made 71% bushels, which would be 429 bushels per 
acre after raising a good crop of oats, f gathered turnips 
before first freeze, cut tops off, fed them to cows, put the 
turnips in open log house, put straw under them and over 
them. They are as sound and look as well now as they 
(lid when gathered, that is, the few that haven't been used 
or sold. They make excellent cow and hog feed. 



ASPARAGUS. 



C. C. HULSART. 



The culture of^ asparagus has been carried on here since 
before my memory. Forty years ago a piece of asparagus 
of two acres was quite a novelty and the grass produced 
quite a contrast to what is produced to-day. In the early 
plantings of this crop most anything that was asparagus 
was considered good enough to plant and when once planted 
it was considered a lifelong crop, most farmers expecting 
to cut it twenty or more years. At that time and later, 
quantity was the prime consideration. - As time passed and 
wide-awake growers became aware that larger and better 
grass was demanded by our city trade, distinct varieties 
that would yield a uniform product were planted. Among 
the first I remember was the Conover's Colossal. This 
was the leading variety here for years, and was only driven 
out by the appearance of the rust. This disease attacked 
this variety very energetically, hence more rust-resistant 
varieties were introduced. Several w^ere tried, but the one 
that stood the test and has been more extensively planted 
than any other is Palmetto. iTp-to the present time there 
are more acres of this variety in cultivation by far than 
all others combined. At the present time quite a few 
growers are planting Giant Argenteuil, a French variety. 
Not enough is known yet to say whether it will be largely 
planted or not. 

One of the first requisites to successful asparagus grow- 
ing is proper seed from Avhich to grow your plants. My 
advice is get this seed from a good grower or gather it 



ASPAEAGUS. 225 

yourself from the best bed you can find, never buy aspara- 
gus seed from seed houses. This is practical experience. 
The writer got bit on the first bed he ever set; it had not 
one crown true to name. Think of the loss a grower sus- 
tains in planting such seed. I repeat, be sure of your seed. 
If one intends purchasing plants to set his bed, then buy 
only from those whom you know have obtained their seed 
as advised above. We see advertised every spring ^ ^strong 
two-year-old plants" at an advance in price over one-year- 
.old, and I am sorry to say many buy these two-year-old 
plants hoping to gain time thereby. This is a serious er- 
ror. Theoretically the larger and stronger the plant the 
sooner and more vigorous the crop; practically this is not 
so, for the following reason : When a plant remains in the 
seed-bed the second summer it proceeds to establish a good 
root system and goes into winter quarters the second fall 
with several well-developed eyes ready to go to work when 
spring comes. Now w^e dig this plant and in so doing 
must of necessity mutilate a great quantity of those long 
fleshy roots ; these roots had stored in them a great quan- 
ity of plant-food. This was necessary to send up good 
strong shoots from all those well-developed eyes. Had 
the plant been left where it was all would have been well, 
but we have cut it badly. What is the result ? We have 
several well-developed eyes; they must grow and we have 
the root system half cut off. The result is there is not 
support enough from the roots to feed so many shoots from 
one crown. We have an over-balanced plant that never 
does as well as a one-year-old plant. Some one may say 
he has seen one-year-old roots just as large as most two- 
year-olds. So have I, but I have yet to see so many roots 
15 



226 Southern Crops. 

attached or more than one or two fully developed eyes, 
while two-year-old roots will have from five to seven fairly 
developed eyes. 

Some time ago in discussing the soil question with an 
old asparagus grower, he remarked that no one who knew 
his business would think of setting it on anything else 
but sand. While this man has grown grass much longer 
than I, still I differ with that remark. My observation is 
that a good deep loam that is loose and mellow, free from 
stones, holds moisture fairly well, with no hard clayey or 
bakey knolls, is an ideal soil to plant this crop on. 

We never plant in the fall. All asparagus beds are set 
as soon as soil can be worked in the spring. The plants 
should be dug as soon as frost is out and ground settled, be- 
cause shoots will soon start and if left too long will be over 
ground, then in handling many will be broken ; this com- 
pels the plant to force another bud, a duty that takes time 
and energy. Another reason for not setting in the fall is 
that the young plants may freeze during the winter. I 
have seen them do so when left in the seed row and where 
too much exposed to severe cold. Such plants are worth- 
less. 

In preparing to plant an asparagus bed, it should be 
the thought of the planter at least a year ahead, or two is 
better, to plant such crops as can be kept clean and free 
from all weeds. The field should be thoroughly manured 
once or twice before crowns are set. This loosens the soil 
and adds considerable humus. When ready to prepare 
soil for setting, open furrows 51/2 or six feet apart as deep 
as a two-horse plow will do it by going twice in each fur- 



ASPAEAGMTS. 22Y 

row throwing the soil both ways. A good plan is to make 
a back furrow between where each row is to be, then run 
out dead furrow straight to set plants in. 
IN'ew Jersey. 



CELERY CULTURE. 

BY MARK EIEGEL. 

Celery is a crop but little cultivated in Georgia. In 
fact, there is a large per cent, of our people who have 
never tasted it. Our common celery is found growing in 
most parts of Europe and in America, in swampy places 
and especially near the sea. The wild plant has a bitter- 
ish, acrid taste and almost poisonous qualities. By cultiva- 
tion it has become changed, having an agreeable, sweetish 
and aromatic taste, while the leaf stalks when blanched are 
white, very brittle and of good size. The blanched stalks 
are used as a salad to flavor soups served with meats, and 
as a general relish. The name of Kalamazoo is always 
thought of when celery is mentioned, as it was there first 
grown as a special crop, where even ten years ago there 
was said to be 1,700 acres in this crop, and land that did 
not earn taxes before was worth from $200 to $500 per 
acre. The growing of the crop is gradually spreading so 
that celery is being grown profitably in various other places. 
Florida is beginning to grow considerable of it. 

In a cultivated state it obtains its greatest perfection 
where we nearest come to supplying the conditions where 
it thrives naturally. These are first, a deep, mucky, rich 
soil, full of decaying vegetable matter; second, plenty of 
moisture ; third, not too high a temperature. As the sea- 
son is advancing and the sowing of celery seed at hand, I 
will treat of beds, seed-sowing, varieties and minor details, 
and more at length in next issue on soils, fertilizers, and 
general field management. 



Celery. 229 

First. Seed-bed. If you intend to raise a considerable 
amount it will pay you to make a % shade out in the open 
by planting 4x4 posts in the ground with a framework of 
2x4 rails" covered with 1x3 strips laid three inches apart, 
all high enough to work under. Where only a few plants 
are wanted, a small bed in a partially shaded place in the 
woods or on the north side of the barn or other buildings 
would suffice. In locating your bed, try and have it near 
a good supply of water, as it will save lots of hard work. 
Ours is just below the irrigating ditch. If the soil in 
your bed is very sandy, better haul in some good rich clay 
loam, mixing considerable fine manure with it. Rake in 
the top soil one bushel ashes to each square rod of surface, 
rake fine and level with a straight edge. I sometimes sow 
the seed broadcast, but prefer to sow in shallow drills one- 
fourth inch deep and six inches apart, wuth occasional Avide 
spaces through which to pass over in watering, etc. Firm 
the bed with the back of a spade and give a good wetting. 
Spread coarse gunny-sacks over the bed to hold the mois- 
ture. If long-continued rains should come, these should 
be taken off, but replaced before drying out. In 14 to 18 
days the young plants will begin to show. The sacks can 
then be taken off permanently. E'ever let the soil get dry 
while the plants are young, or you will lose them. Like- 
wise don't go off fishing or to the seashore for two or three 
weeks with your celery ii3^ the hands of some ignorant la- 
borer, and come home expecting your celery in fine shape, 
as it requires close personal attention from the start to 
finish to make celery a profitable crop. Seed should be 
sown in this latitude (Middle Georgia) from April 1st to 
May 15th. I have sown them June 1st and made good 



230 SOUTHEKN CKors. 

celery, but this is rather late for sowing. For this south- 
ern part of the State, seed may be sown as late as July 
15th. I plant but two varieties — Giant Paschal and Gol- 
den Self -blanching. The latter is the best variety for the 
amateur, as it grows quickly, is easily blanched and of 
first-class quality. We have had some trouble with hollow 
stalks. The Maryland Experiment Station has shown that 
French-grown seed is superior to American-grown, due to 
greater care in seed selection. Until our growers take this 
care it will pay to use the French-grown seed. One of the 
worst enemies of celery is what is known as early blight. 
It commences with small grayish spots at first, becoming 
brown, which keep enlarging until it kills the leaves and fi- 
nally the plant. We always prepare to spray our beds, 
which we do as soon as the plants are two weeks old, at 
intervals of six to eight days, as this disease can be pre- 
vented, but not cured. We use Bordeaux mixture, com- 
mencing with 2-8-50 strength and increasing gradually to 
4-5-50 as the plants get older and more hardy. 

It is always a great temptation for the novice in celery 
culture to want to plant in the field direct from the seed- 
bed. It is almost impossible to make good celery in this 
way, as it must be transplanted iiito i^ows six to eight inches 
apart, and three or four inches in the rows, to get good 
stocky plants with a good root system, as the plants in the 
seed-bed tend to make a tap-root Avith few side fibres. In 
transplanting, these are broken off and numerous rootlets 
and fibres take their place. 

If our plants either in the seed or transplanting bed do 
not grow as fast as we would like, we give them nitrate of 
soda by dissolving a pinch in each can of water put on. 



Celeey. 231 

Do not sow the dry nitrate over the beds, as I have seen 
plants killed in this way. If you have paid good atten- 
tion to your celery you ought to have by August 15th to 
September 1st, nice stocky plants five to six inches high 
ready to go in the field. 

It is almost useless to plant them out earlier than this 
as the hot sun will burn them up. 

I^ext, have you any land suitable for it? If not, you 
had as well not plant for market at least, as the cost would 
be too great to prepare land to meet the requirements of 
celery. 

Fv.r home use a few rows in the garden may be grown 
on the north side of the fence if moist, and deep, and near 
a good supply of water when needed. 

For field culture I know of no place so good as creek 
bottoms when not liable to overflow, or sandy. 

If you have no crop on the land it is not too early to 
begin to prepare it by plowing in a good coating of stable 
manure; 25 to 50 two-horse loads per acre is none too much. 

Break land with two or three mules not less than twelve 
inches deep, cutaway or otherwise ; work it every ten days 
or two weeks until about July 15th, when the rows 
will want to be laid off four feet apart for Golden Self- 
blanching, and five feet for Giant Paschal, using a lister 
or any plow that will throw the dirt back in the drills, 
mixing thoroughly with scooter plow or Planet Jr., culti- 
vator set close. 

Acid phosphate, 500 pounds. 

Cottonseed-meal, 100 pounds. 

titrate of soda, 300 pounds. 

Muriate of potash, 100 pounds. 



232 SouTHEKN Crops. 

Use 1,000 pounds to 2,000 pounds per acre, and put it 
in the ground at least a week or ten days before planting. 

The furrows after mixing should be four or five inches 
below the surface, as in planting down this way the soil is 
moist and cooler, and requires much less work in hilling 
as the dirt does not have to be raked so high. Put the 
plants six inches apart in the rows, and if it is very hot 
weather better shade them for a day or two. 

The first cultivating is all done by hand, using a nar- 
row onion hoe with blade about three inches wide. As 
soon as the plants are twelve inches in height we give them 
a shaping up. 

This requires two men to work to an advantage, one to 
gather up the leaves and stalks, and the other to pull the 
dirt up to them to get the plants started up straight; as 
they grow the soil will have to be raked to them from time 
to time to keep the stalks white, as we find that when the 
nights get frosty, and growth slackens up, that it is difficult 
to blanch after once becoming green from exposure to the 
sunlight. Your celery will need covering about !N^ovem- 
ber 1st, as the heavy frost at this time, and light freezes 
shortly after will injure it so. We prepare for this by put- 
ting up a number of stacks of ^amp hay, sedge or wheat 
straw which should be placed over the tops of the rows 
three or four inches deep. Covered in this way it will 
keep and continue to grow until January 1st, and will be 
found to be blanched clear out to the ends of the stalks. 

It should not be left in the ground much later than the 
first of January as we are apt to get a freeze that will 
ruin it. , w. 

In harvesting, it saves time to throw a furrow away 



Celery. 233 

from each side with a single plow, then it can be gotten 
out easily. Wash clean, removing all dead or diseased 
leaves or stems, and tie in bunches of one dozen stalks and 
pack in crates lined with paper. 

'No packing will be needed for nearby markets for there 
is where the Georgia grower will sell his celery, as it would 
not pay to ship E'orth, where it would come in competition 
with Kalamazoo and various other places. 

Can we grow celery of good size and flavor in Georgia ? 
Most assuredly, yes. We have grown as fine as you would 
want, and brought the top price on the market. 

By having strong plants, selecting suitable soil, and ir- 
rigation there is no reason why Georgia should not raise all 
the celery she uses, besides supplying other markets. 

For those who have never grown it, I would say com- 
mence in a small w-ay, a few rows in the home garden, 
and gradually increase your area as you learn more of its 
habits. 

Spalding County, Ga. 



GKOWmG CELERY FOR MARKET. 

BY BRADLEY HANCOCK^ JR. 

For several years, I have found the growing of celery 
for market very easily and profitably done in the follow^- 
ing manner. In this latitude it is best to grow celery as 
the second or third crop on the land for that season. Land 
that has been heavily manured for the preceding crops, 
with much of the fertility remaining in the soil is the best 
land, by far, for celery. This does not mean that the land 
should not be manured liberally again, after the preceding 



234 Southern Crops. 

crop has been removed, for it requires the strongest and 
richest of land for the proper growth of celery. In the 
famous Michigan celery growing district, one will find 
black muck land varying in depth from four to ten feet, 
the growers there heap additional manure upon it by the 
ton, and find it profitable, too. At any time in the month 
of September, in the South, is early enough to plant celery. 

Sometimes the early Irish potato crops or onion crops are 
harvested and the land broadcasted to cowpeas. Mow the 
cowpeas for hay in August and turn over the stubble in 
preparation for planting celery. To raise the plants it is 
necessary to prepare a bed of ri-ch, moist soil, as favorable 
in character as is possible to procure. Use large quanti- 
ties of manure made as fine as possible by repeated chop- 
ping and raking. Mark out shallow rows across the bed, 
and sow the seed thinly. Do not cover more than you 
can do by beating the bed over with the back of a shovel. 
The sowing of the bed need not be done earlier than during 
the month of May. As soon as you have sown the bed,*- 
and properly packed it (firmed the soil) cover it with old 
jute or burlap sacks. The object in this is to keep the 
surface of the bed moist, prevent evaporation, and permit 
the seed to germinate properly. As soon as the seeds be- 
gin to sprout the covers should be lifted (held up by sticks, 
twine or wires), which will give enough light to harden 
the young plants, yet protect them from the hot sunlight. 

To properly and safely carry the plants through the hot 
summer it is best to place posts at sufficient height to easily 
work under, and cover the bed with laths nailed an inch 
apart and secured to the posts. When the young plants 
are two inches high, they should be shifted into another 



Celery. 235 

bed and placed about two inches apart each way. This 
will cause them to grow stocky and form a mass of good 
roots, to enable them to be transplanted to the final bed 
safely. 

Celery plants, under the foregoing conditions, will nat- 
urally make rank growth. Consequently the tops should 
be sheared twice before they are transplanted for the last 
time. One very valuable factor in the profitable growth 
of celery is the procuring of good, fresh seed. Celery 
seed, like parsnip, carrot, etc., loses its vitality very soon 
and is practically of no use *if it is carried over into the 
second year. It is necessary, then, that the seed be pur- 
chased as early as possible in the season, and from a relia- 
ble seed house that will furnish seed from selected stock 
and true to name. In the celery-growing districts of Mich- 
igan, the plan of planting, owing to climatic differences, 
is quite different from the course to be pursued in the 
South. 

In the l^orth, the growers must lift their crops in early 
fall and store in cellars. It is planted in rows three and 
one-half feet apart and cultivated by horse. Under the 
circumstances, we of the South are prevented by climatic 
conditions from competing with the I^orthern growers in 
producing blanched celery in summer. Our Southern 
climate is too hot in the summer and usually too dry ; cel- 
ery requiring a cool, moist climate. Really the celery 
grown on the deep, mucky lands of Michigan is far infer- 
ior to that grown in the South in the cooler months of the 
year, though it is very showy and attractive in appearance. 
In the South it is not necessary to lift the crop, conse- 
quently it should be grown in such a way that it can be 



236 Southern Crops. 

earthed up most economically. During some of the win- 
ters we exj^jerience in the South, it is very difficult to keep 
it from constant winter growth and going to seed. There- 
fore it is best to set the plants in beds, as it is less expen- 
sive to bank up a bed, than to earth up the same number 
of plants in the single row system ; then by this process of 
bedding, the plants will continue nearly dormant, a condi- 
tion which Ave particularly desire. Their dormant condi- 
tion can better be secured when the plants are in a wide, 
flat-topped bed, than in single rows. Make the beds of 
any suitable length and five feet wide with an eight-foot 
space between the beds to supply the earth for banking. 
These beds are always made upon the surface of the 
ground, never sunken. The rows are one foot apart, run- 
ning crosswise of the beds eleven plants to the row, six 
inches apart in the row, as is used in many other crops 
v/hen being bedded. A planting board is necessary here. 
This consists of a common board, six feet long, twelve 
inches wide and one inch thick. The ends of this board 
must be exactly square, notched on each edge, beginning 
six inches from each end, and six inches apart. Stretch 
a line along the edge of the bed, lay the planting board 
exactly perpendicular to the line and set a plant at each 
notch of the board, then move the board so the notch will 
exactly line up with the plant just set, taking care to keep 
it exactly square with the line at the end. Continue this 
process until the entire bed is planted. Always stand with 
your feet on the board when planting, thus avoiding tramp- 
ling the bed. 

Planted in this way it will require about 37,000' planst 
for an acre. It is always best, in selecting land for celery, 



Celery. 237 

to choose low, black lands, where it can be easily and 
cheaply irrigated in a dry season, if necessary, for, as 
stated before, the celery crops require plenty of moisture. 
At no time Avhile the process of cultivation is going on, 
should the work be done while the plants are wet with dew 
or rain, for if one does, the plants will surely suffer from 
rust yellow. Often celery leaves will show an inclination 
to droop and spread flat on the ground ; this must be pre 
vented by drawing enough soil around the plant to hold 
the leaves erect. This is usually done about the first week 
in October and only enough soil should be drawn around 
the plants to accomplish this result, for the final banking 
up should not be attempted by any means until the month 
of December in this latitude. If done before this time 
one may confidently expect to have hollow, low grade, rusty 
celery. That is plenty early, any way. For it is during 
the Christmas holidays and the two months following that 
the demand for this product is at its best. 

In making the first banking up of celery, it is custo- 
mary w^ith the best growers here in the South to use two 
soft twine strings about fifteen feet long, with a stout, 
pointed peg tied at each end. Drive a peg in the ground 
opposite the end of a celery row and about a foot away. 
Take one turn of the twine about each plant in the row 
so as to hold the leaves in an upright position and close 
the performaiiCe by drawing the other peg in the soil op- 
posite the other end. Continue this process with all of 
the rows in ilie bed. The fine earth from the vacant spaces 
between the beds should now be used to pack firmly by 
hand around each plant, using only enough earth to hold 
them firmly in position. Unwrap the strings and use them 



238 Southern" Ceops. 

in the same way on two more rows and continue. In this 
manner the bed is finished. This must be done when the 
celery is entirely dry, and it is very important that the 
earth be kept out of the heart of the plant. When the 
last banking up for the bleaching process is begun be sure 
to build up the outside of the bed at least six inches wider 
than the rows are long, for it is necessary that the five-foot 
bed should be enclosed with a bank of soil not less than 
six feet wide. Continue adding soil from time to time as 
the tops grow upward and just about the beginning of the 
Christmas holidays cover over entirely with earth, finish- 
ing with a complete final covering of marsh grass or forest 
leaves to keep out frost. It is well to remember in buying 
seed or plants that the dwarf varieties almost universally 
used by Northern growers are not suited for the Southern 
localities. I have found Sandringham, Golden Head and 
Paschal to do well in the South. 

Environment makes a difference in the growth of nearly 
everything, so it is well to test in a small way at first, the 
varieties, and find what is best suited to your particular 
locality. A number of the expert celery growers around 
Kalamazoo make a specialty of growing young celery plants 
for the Southern trade and the plants they grow in the 
moist, cool soil of Michigan have proved entirely satisfac- 
tory here. Like everything in the plant life celery has its 
enemies. In some localities the celery blight is very 
troublesome and destructive. This is sometimes called 
"leaf spot of the celery" and is liable to make its appear- 
ance at any time, usually after the plants are set in the 
open field. 

In the earliest stages of this fungus grayish spots form 



Celery. 239 

upon the leaves, dianging to scorched appearance a few 
days later ; conditions being favorable for the development 
of this disease, it will soon spread over the entire plant, 
making the growth look as if it had been drenched in hot 
water. The inner leaves — the heart — will continue throw- 
ing up new leaves, but if the plant has become badly dis- 
eased, it will never recover sufficiently to produce a mar- 
ketable product. When this disease appears it is too late to 
destroy it, for the main injury has been done long before 
the existence of the disease was noticed. This fungus 
usually appears during or soon after "a spell" of sultry op- 
pressive weather, when the air is full of damp and the 
nights are hot. A clear sky with bright sunshine, followed 
by cool nights, prevent and control this "leaf spot." Of 
course the plants must be kept in a vigorous and growing 
condition at all times, but this is particularly necessary 
during unfavorable weather periods, thus being enabled to 
better withstand the attack of disease. The hardier, green 
varieties of celery suffer much less from diseases than the 
self-blanching kinds. Under certain conditions spraying 
with Bordeaux mixture and ammoniacal solution of cop- 
per, applied at intervals of ten to twelve days, will do 
much good, "The heart rot" of celery is rarely found in 
trenches, but occurs mostly where the celery has had too 
copious watering, wetting the tops of the celery after it 
has been stored in poorly ventilated cellars. The insect 
enemies of the celery are, so far, easily controlled by sim- 
ple means. Grasshoppers often prove very troublesome 
early in the season, particularly so if the celery is planted 
near a meadow. I have found a flock of turkeys the best 
remedy for the grasshoppers. Take the flock into the field, 



240 Southern Ceops. 

pick off a few ''hoppers" in plain view of the turkeys and 
give the insects to the turkeys to eat. It is surprising how 
quick the fowls will "catch on/' and likewise astonishing 
how many hoppers they eat in a day. The turkeys only 
need one lesson. Wheat-bran mixed with molasses, water 
and enough Paris green to color the mass greenish in ap- 
pearance is also a good thing to scatter in the field, where 
no poultry of any kind is allowed to run. 

''The leaf tick" is another bug that becomes troublesome 
at times, not only because it spins a web tying the leaves 
together, but destroys the foliage by eating it. Fortu- 
nately there are not many of these insects yet, and careful 
hand-picking will do away with those the turkeys may miss. 
In a celery crop that has been neglected and too many 
weeds allowed to grow, in or near the celery, "the tarnished 
plant bug" often makes trouble a plenty. This pest is 
very small when young; of a yellowish green color, chang- 
ing to a dull yellow brown when fully matured. The pre- 
vention is, do not allow any trash to accumulate or lie 
around where the insects can hide, and keep the celery well- 
worked out and entirely free from Aveeds and grass. The 
celery caterpillar is possibly the most troublesome of the 
insects mentioned. It feeds greedily upon the leaves of 
the plant, but is easily detected owing to its size and pe- 
culiar color markings, which are : yellow with transverse 
bands of black, which make it readily seen against the 
background of the green foliage. "The febr^ caterpillar" 
is smaller than its congener, but equally as striking in ap- 
pearance. Fortunately neither of the two appear in great 
numbers, and all that the turkeys fail to pre-empt can be 
hand-picked. When preparing celery for market, taken 



Celery. 241 

direct from rows where grown, it is only necessary to cut 
off the root just below the surface of the ground, using 
a sharp, stiff knife. Take off the outside leaves, trim the 
root smoothly and evenly, pack in boxes and load on wagon 
to be carried to the washing house. If blanch-boards have 
been used 'they must not be removed until necessary, nor 
should the trimmed celery be permitted to lie in the wind 
or i&un at all. I always use a wagon canvas to cover the 
boxes of celery from the time each root is trimmed and 
placed in the box until it reaches the washing-room. In 
ppeparation for marketing celery from trenches the work is 
about the same as when taken from the rows except that 
the soil is already loose and the roots can be taken out 
more easily. Arriving at the washing-room, the celery is 
placed upon a rack of wooden slats over a large trough, a 
good spray of clear, cold water is then turned upon it until 
any soil adhering to it is entirely removed. Allow it then 
to drain thoroughly and tie in bunches of twelve plants. 
It is customary to have three grades of celery. The first 
grade calls for six dozen in a box, the second for eight 
dr nine dozen per box. The crate in general use by Flor- 
ida celery growers is 11x20x24 inches, the one used by 
California growers is 24x24x20 inches, when celery is 
shipped "in the rough" — this means that the celery is 
lifted from the soil, a few of the outer leaves jerked off, 
the roots trimmed roughly and tied in bunches of 12 or 
14 with a cheap grade of coarse twine. I have never 
learned that shipping anything "in the rough" is profita- 
ble. I use crates that are practically air-tight, either li- 
ning the crates with oil paper before the bunches are put in 
or wrapping each bunch separately. The biggest check 
16 



242 SouTHEBiq" Crops. 

comes when everything you ship is nice and clean, attrac- 
tive in appearance, and properly packed. Before the cel- 
ery is packed, it should be thoroughly dry and during the 
entire handling it must be kept as cool as possible. The 
whole outlay for tools, 5,000 feet of lumber for each acre, 
boxes, etc., should not exceed $200 per acre. The annual 
expense of growing an acre of celery, including fertilizers, 
seed, labor, wear and tear of equipment, should not exceed 
$250, if the soil is suited for the work, and located near 
a good market or shipping point ; 1,500 dozen is a fair es- 
timate for one acre and this will easily bring 25 cents per 
dozen at the lowest average, yielding a gross return of $375 
per acre, with a net return of $125 for profit. 
Alabama. 



HOW TO GROW AND SHIP LETTUCE. 

BY MISS MARY ABAKK. 

The gardeners are preparing the ground for their fall 
crops of onions and lettuce. The fall Irish potatoes were 
planted in August two weeks ago and are up nicely. Let- 
tuce is the crop that is claiming the attention of the gar- 
deners this week. The ground must be well prepared and 
fertilized. In this section where there is a sandy loam un- 
derlaid with clay deep plowing is found the best. After 
the ground has been plowed it is well to go over it with a 
disc until there is not a clod left and the earth pulverized. 
Then the best gardener scatters broadcast two carloads to 
the acre of stable manure that has been well rotted. To this 
is added further 3,000 pounds of high-grade fertilizer to 
the acre. It is well for every section of the country to use 
the kind of fertilizer that is best suited to the soil. The 
United States Government has a force of men at work 
whose business it is to analyze the soils in different States 
and localities and recommend the kind of fertilizers that 
will produce the best results. 

In this section it is useless to plant lettuce for the fall 
crop earlier than September 1, and even then it must be a 
season that is given to frequent rains that keep the ground 
moist. When it is dry for weeks at a time it is of little 
use to plant the seed. When the season is favorable the 
lettuce will be ready for market in 65 or 70 days. The 
best varieties for shipping are the Big Boston and Passion, 
both head lettuce, and the Grand Rapids, a leaf lettuce. 
The head lettuce will not head when the season is dry 



244 Southern Ckops. 

and hot but will run up to seed, rather than head. The 
same is true in the late spring. 

For the early fall heading the Tennis Ball and the Small 
Boston are considered the best varieties. 

Mr. Inglis says that in 1902, when there was a cool fall, 
he planted lettuce in beds and transplanted and had an 
exceptionally fine crop. In 1893 and 1894 the falls were 
dry and hot and he planted both in drills and in beds but 
failed to get a profitable stand either way. He also found 
that lettuce sown later than the last of December fails to 
head owing to the heat in the spring. Mr. Inglis advises 
to sow both in beds and in drills. If it is dry, the plants 
can not be successfully transplanted, but if in drills the 
plants may be thinned out without injury. 

A pest in this country is a small, black or brown ant, 
that will carry off the seed almost as fast as they are sown 
some seasons. When the seeds are planted in beds a good 
way to do is to soak the seeds over night and in the morn- 
ing spread them out between damp cloths and keep covered 
and damp until the seeds begin to sprout and then plant 
them carefully in beds. The ants do not trouble them 
then. But the sprouted seed can not be sown with the 
drill. Some recommend the sowing of grits at the same 
time the lettuce is sown, but not in the drill with the seed. 
Then the ants feast on the grits and carry off the little 
grains instead of the seed. 

The planting and cultivation of lettuce may be summed 
up briefly: Plow well and pulverize the soil; fertilize 
broadcast heavily ; sow with a seed drill twelve inches be- 
tw^een the rows and when they have from four to six leaves 
thin out the head to twelve and the leaf varieties to six 



Lettuce. 245 

inches apart ; cultivate frequently with a hand cultivator 
and when half grown a side dressing of nitrate of soda may 
be given and often produces excellent results. 

It is also important that the lettuce should be well mar- 
keted. In the first place, it must be fully matured before 
cutting, whether leaf or head lettuce. In E'ew Orleans 
the truck growers cut the lettuce and load it into wagons 
in the field and haul it dry to the shippers, where it is 
packed in barrels, dry. Here the heads are carefully put 
in baskets and taken to the packing-house in the field, where 
all the yellow leaves are removed and the heads washed 
and drained and then packed closely in hampers. The 
head lettuce is packed with the heads down and when 
the hamper is half full a piece of ice four or five inches 
square is put in. The leaf lettuce must be laid on its side 
and iced the same as the head lettuce. The hampers must 
be full without pressing too much, but the packer must be 
sure that the package is full when it reaches market, 
otherwise it will sell for a slack-packed and will not bring 
so much. 

Hancock Co., Miss. 



The End. 



For Southern Farmers 

''Agriculture for the Common Schools'' 

Bv Du. Jamks B. Hunnicutt 

New edition, 250 pages, 70 illustrations, best paper, printing and biudinjir, 
postpaid, 55 cents. It teaclies the fundamental principles of tlie science of 
agriculture in the forceful, saccinct style for which Dr. Hunnicutt was so 
famous. Over 20.000 copies liave been sold; tho' designed primarily for 
school use, it is also a book for the farmer. Valuable reference tables are 
included. 



"Dickson's System of Intensive Farming" 

By David Dickson 

This is a day of progress, and new systems and methods are rai)idly coming 
into use; nevertheless certain great fundamental principles go on forever. 
It is our duty and one of our greatest privileges to first get a clear concep- 
tion of these principles, and then expand and modify them to best serve 
our conditions. The best minds of all ages have found inspiration from 
reading the "old masters" and David Dicicson was an "old master" in the 
art and science of intensive farming. So any thoughtful mind can 
learn much from reading this book. 80 Pages. Illustrated. Paper Cover 
25 Cents Postpaid. 

"Ten Acres Enough" 

(Author Unknown) 

More than forty years ago, a book under this title was publisiied and proved 
very popular, iiut strange to say, it has been for some time out of print. 
Believing the work to contain much that is pertinent to present conditions 
in the South, we brought out this new edition, and have already sold over 
three thousand. 

The garden, truck and berry crops are treated especially. The book is uni- 
que in the minuteness of details; ye': it is so interesting that it has been 
. st.vled "The Romance of the Farm." 250 Pages. Illustrated. Price 50 
Cents, postpaid. 



"The Southern Cultivator" 

Published semi-monthly on the 1st and 15th of each month. For G6 years 
it has been the Southern farmers best friend and standby. The only paper 
of its class in the South Atlantic and Gn\i States. Not a seed house or im- 
plement-house organ, no subscription schemes. We do not carrv patent 
medicine or whiskey or fake or questionable advertising of any kind. De- 
partments i)ertaining to Horticulture, Poultry, Dairj% Live Stock Etc, 
edited by able writers who are at the top in their respective lines. Write 

FOR SaMI'I^E CV)I'V. 

N. B.— Any one of the above books free with one year's subscription to 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR at $1.00. 

The Cultivator Publishing Co. 

BOX 798. ATLANTA, GEORGIA. 



26 m 



